When You Are Empty, There Is Only
by ShadowCloak
Summary: Being a Nobody means no heart, only memories. Over time, the void which consumed the heart will take the memories as well. Therefore, it's much easier to make and keep to a plan while the memories are still fresh, right? Saix and Axel.
1. Memories

A/N: Inspired by the DS KH game and bit from BBS, from the interaction between Axel and Saix, Lea and Isa, and Secret Reports by Axel and Saix. For me, it turned Saix who I thought was just a right hand man to a plotter and someone who actually, I believe, treasures memories. It also turned Axel, who I thought was just missing Roxas, to someone who was actually redeeming himself (more than I thought) for how badly he treated Roxas, and ultimately Saix. Something like that.

**Spoilers: **If you didn't know that Axel and Saix were once friends, or you don't know that when they joined the Organization that they had a plan of their own, then I guess you may need to reconsider reading this story. Especially since I just told you all of this if you read the above…

There will be spoilers involving **Xion**, especially as the story gets rolling. **Hints** **of BbS you would only pick it up if you already know it.**

**Relationships**: For the relationship shared between Saix and Axel as well as Lea and Isa, I'm not sure how it will be written for future chapters but the current plan is it will be a friendship that could go further. That's mostly up to how the reader wants to interpret it anyways.

Roxas and Axel: A friend based one. Nothing more. Especially after 358/2. Doesn't mean that Saix might get jealous or assume otherwise. We'll see.

**Disclaimer:** Characters aren't mine.

_This chapter is told from Saix's perspective. _

When You Are Empty, There Is Only…

-

Memories

OoooooO

They had arrived here a few days ago, though Saix couldn't remember what the day was like when they arrived. It just felt like one day he woke up in a castle that was so open and hollow, seemly endless with rooms and hallways, instead of a world with life. Everyday life of going to school or work, coming home at the end of the day to enjoy supper and then moving off to bed, only to repeat the previous days events. With maybe even the slightest changes.

There was a transitional phase, as Saix called it, of darkness. Where they had found each other, not remembering or knowing why they were in darkness. Xemnas, the leader of the Organization, found them shortly after. He informed them that they were 'born' without a heart, resulting in a hollow shell-a Nobody-with fragments of your previous life. Becoming a Nobody meant the first little while _things-_your mental state Saix believed- would get difficult, switching from relying on the heart to learning how to act on memories alone, as Xemnas told them both.

If _he_ was accurate, today would be the fourth day being here. Saix couldn't imagine why _he_ was counting. Xemnas had said that they both could be in this state forever, of balancing on the tightrope of existence above a chasm of nothingness until they fall and truly cease to exist. Unless they were of course, able to cross the tightrope and become complete once more.

Saix closed his eyes against the undecorated white pillow as he lay down on the equally painfully white bed. He knew this wasn't his room. Not this pillow, not this bed. He knew before be stepped in the room, kicked off his boots, and then collapsed on _his_ bed.

"…_As for my offer, would you become my Second…?" There was a smirk drawn on Xemnas' face. Saix could feel an almost dull cunningness coming from him. As if he was only acting to be cunning. "I do not expect an answer immediately but I think it would be in your best…interest if you could call it, to accept. You would not have to go on the pawn like missions like the one you were sent out to today. Instead you would be the one to send them out. Traveling along the Corridors of Darkness seems to have left you quite exhausted."_

Saix felt it was rather sudden move for Xemnas. He had anticipated the offer but wondered why it was so soon. The meeting Xemnas along with Saix's mission of recruiting for more beings 'lost in darkness' had left him surprisingly strained and tired. Saix looked out the window, which should have been beside the bed but by the desk instead, and found the everlasting night view so very different from before.

Saix knew that at night the sky could feel alive. This view lacked life. But back where they were…

_Today was another day after school which Isa would return home. Isa he would always return home to his own home first in case his parents were in a good mood. Today, unfortunately for Isa, was another day which his mother had stayed home 'calling in sick' as she would tell her boss. In reality, she had been drinking and sleeping. Sometimes she would be on the couch or other times in bed. Blinds were always closed. Sunlight was 'too bright'. Bags of food and bottles were scattered across the house beginning in the kitchen and leaving a trail to either the living room or the bedroom. If it was in her room, she wouldn't usually bother to get dressed at all. His father at least went to work far more often, but the same situations would easily arise is he was feeling 'sick'. _

_Isa had learned painfully that when the house if dark, and the kitchen was a mess, it was time to go to his other 'home' before bringing about some crazed anger or rant from whoever was home. _

"_Our home is also your home," Lea's mother had told him when these situations had begun to occur. Since then, Isa had wished it really was his home. He had a key to their home in case Lea's mother was out. It would be rare when he would have to use it, since she was at home usually by the time Isa would arrive. Lea went to a different school which had a later end time that Isa's, so Isa was always the first to arrive out of the two. Isa would do his best to put on a small happy smile, to at least show his appreciation when she would greet him at the door. He figured it never really worked because he would see a hint of sadness in her green eyes framed by dark brown locks. Sometimes they would talk briefly, and if Isa hungry then she would get him just a little something so he would still be hungry enough for supper. Sometimes all he told her was he needed a little rest and then would precede straight upstairs._

_Isa arrive upstairs, stumbling into Lea's room. Sunlight poured from the open window across the room, filling the room up with warmth and a soft glow. Lea's room wasn't a terrible mess, but it wasn't also the tidiest. He would have no books on the floor, but they weren't stored nicely in the bookcase nor piled neatly on the desk. His closet would have clothes 'hanging up' but sometimes a t-shirt would be hanging through a hanger rather than on it. A pair of Frisbees hung on small bedposts at the foot of the bed. At least by the window, where Lea's bed was, was always free of clutter. The large blanket that covered it had a deep ocean blue background bordered with red, orange and yellow swirling patterns which Isa and Lea had believed the design to be fiery. Lea told him that when his mother made the blanket, she had thought of the life of the sky and ocean as the sunlight would dance around on it. Neither of them understood what she meant, so they settled on fire. After all, the sun itself was a huge ball of fire, radiating heat all day. The bed, being by the window, always had sunlight on it as long as the sun was out._

_Isa would drop his bag by Lea's bookcase which was by the doorway and close the door, only leaving open a small gap. He would sit on the bed and feel the warmth from the setting sun on his skin for a moment before lying down. Even as Isa would close his eyes, he would still feel heat and even see the sunlight through his closed eyes._

Here is was dark outside; always. Light only came from the castle. Typically it was quiet too. Only being here a few days Saix had found it unnaturally quiet. The Castle That Never Was…only habitants were eight Nobodies including himself. Not one of them Saix could feel any life coming from them. Not one he found he could trust.

Except maybe the one he had come here with.

Saix heard footsteps in the hallway. They stopped in front of the door. The door opened and the footsteps started a bit, and then the door closed. The steps started again, coming into the room, and then halted. Saix chose not to turn to face _him_ as _he_ was probably wondering why-

_Usually Isa would feel Lea's presence as Lea would enter the room. Even if Isa had fallen asleep, he would feel something faint at the back of his mind, making him slightly more conscious than asleep. Isa would begin to feel the faded warmth of the sunlight was it slowly disappeared from the town. Lea would always find the need to wake Isa. Lea was never sure how badly things had gone for his friend, and so Lea would cautiously approach the bed and sit down quietly._

_Then Lea would reach out his hand and put it on Isa's shoulder, giving a quick shake, "Hey, um, Isa do you-" _

"-Saix? What's with you?" There is suspicion in his voice. There is no weight on the bed. Saix pushes himself up, bringing the pillow onto his lap, feeling even more worn down. "This isn't your room. I'm sure that you would have realized that, no matter how exhausted you are."

Saix turns to face the man that looks so very much like Lea. The same red hair with dark roots. The same green eyes that matched his mother's. Same strangely slender body. But upon a closer comparison with Saix's memories, he sees the man in front of him isn't Lea. The eyes aren't full of a lively spirit like a fiery bonfire. Instead they seem to hold an empty cavern with a small fire, barely burning. The black coat of the Organization gives his face a darker, hollow look that could vanish into darkness instantly, and seems to pronounce how unusually slender his body is that Saix was sure that is never was that unusual. No, the man beside the bed, crossed arms and waiting an answer is not Lea. He can't be Lea.

He is known as Axel; the hollow shell that Lea has become.

"Axel…" Saix still finds the name strange to say. He doesn't know where to begin. What does Axel remember?

Axel sits down on the bed facing Saix, "Yeah I remember, bad day right? But c'mon, you only did this when we were little kids! You would say something like, 'grow up and act like an adult'!" Axel smiled and gave Saix a little push on the shoulder. Saix shifted slightly and frowned. Axel cocked his head to the side and waited. Saix remained quiet. Axel stopped grinning. "So- are you going to tell me soon? I'm pretty tired from this long day-"

"Xemnas," Saix said quietly. Saix doesn't find himself _feeling_ sadden that Axel didn't remember how long their 'tradition' had lasted for. Instead he feels a memory rise up- a memory of when Lea had forgotten his birthday for some silly reason- rather than an actual feeling. Perhaps he didn't remember because it had begun to happen more often as they got older. He practically moved in. Then when they moved out they-

"What did he want with you? Surely you hadn't messed up _that_ badly already?"

"Do you remember when we first…received our names? From Xemnas?" Saix asked. Axel looked up to the ceiling, remembering. He nodded. "You also remember that you 'stepped out of line'?"

Axel flinched and looked back at Saix. He had a look of hurt on his face, "Look, this whole new naming thing may seem fine to you, but I think he's brainwashing all of us, Isa."

"That is not my name, _Axel_." Saix closed his eyes. "The person you knew, 'Isa', is dead." If reincarnations existed, then that is what Isa felt like to Saix. Another life. Just like Lea. We are not them.

"That's not true! Look Is-," he cut off as Saix's eyes snapped opened, pupils dilated, shoulders tensed. Axel gathered his breath then continued on, "Look. Xemnas is just trying to trick us! You must see that! I don't know what he's told you but we can't trust him," he said as he brought his fist down on the space between the two on the bed.

"I know." Saix paused. "That wasn't the focus of the meeting. As he phrased it, when you 'stepped of line' and I 'corrected' your behaviour, he thought it would be appropriate that I become his Second."

"Just from…that?" Axel's eyes widened.

_Xemnas had found them lost in the Corridor of Darkness. There, he had assigned them names. Number VII, Saix. Number VIII, Axel. Isa and Lea are no longer and the memories are all that's left. "The memories will remind you what it was like to have a heart." That's what they were told._

_They were brought to a room with high chairs which resembled thrones. Xemnas sat on the highest, and five chairs were filled with Nobodies cloaked in black just like them. Saix and Axel stood on the ground searching the faces of the six Nobodies, trying to find emotion that wasn't hollowed or fake. For some reason, those faces seemed familiar._

"_We welcome two new members- number VII, Saix along with-"_

"_Hold it!" Axel shouted. Xemnas stopped and frowned. Saix noticed the others returned Axel's interruption with amusement. _

_One with a scar and eye patch pointed at Axel and laughed, "Look at that! This one still has some fresh memories!" The others laughed or chuckled. Except Xemnas._

"_Won't last long." A younger one replied._

"_If you wouldn't mind," one with longer lighter hair directed his words towards Xemnas. There was a twisted danger to his smile and excitement in his eyes, "I would be honoured if I could experiment how long it would-"_

_Axel shook, only making the group more amused. "That's not-!" His voice echoing around the room then drowning amongst the mocking laughs leaving a whisper, "It's-it's Isa.."_

_Xemnas_ _was ticked. No doubt he hadn't expected Axel's outburst. Before wanting anything else to go terribly off course, Saix took a step forward, feeling strangely calm. Or empty._

_The others stopped talking and focused on Saix. They looked expectantly at him-probably wondering what amusing event would come next._

"_Is-"_

"_I am," Saix spoke loudly, interrupting Axel, "Number VII, Saix. The Luna Diviner. And this, Nobody, is Number VIII, Axel. The Flurry of Dancing Flames."_

_The others grumbled. Xemnas' frown disappeared. Saix saw a hint of approval on his face._

"_But-"_

_Saix turned to face him, lowering his voice, "And that is final, Axel." His green eyes widened. _

"He believed that I wouldn't rely on my memories. Even though you were a friend that wouldn't…hinder my judgement." Saix continued. He stared as blankly at the pillow as the pillow itself was in his hands. He knew he should have felt something for stopping Axel. Irritated, like when Lea would refuse to apologize for something that was his fault. It wasn't right. But then why should he feel anything for this man's rude behaviour? After all, Axel isn't Lea.

But that didn't seem right either.

"So what makes him think that you weren't your usual short tempered self? Like you are when you're hungry and you can smell some food but you can't have any? Remember?" Axel fell back onto the bed grinning at some memory fitting that description. He dangled his feet off the bed, knocking some dirt off his boots onto the floor and the side of the bed. Saix could remember just how short tempered he was without food. There was easily more than one situation it had happen. The cause was usually Lea's. But Axel was a different being entirely.

And so was Saix. "Xemnas was right. I didn't see _you_."

"You're not making any sense."

"I saw a man…no, a being standing in front of me. His misbehaviour was causing unrest in the room. I felt I had a need to settle it. Once the other Nobodies started talking, I didn't even think about who it was. And Xemnas noticed that." Axel stared back with his mouth open. Saix felt uncertain, because the next words didn't feel right in his mind, which only meant they wouldn't come out any better. "Because of that I felt, as close as I can, like I should have felt something. Not nothing. I didn't feel much of anything in that room or lately…since we came here. I suppose what I want is my heart back. So I don't feel so empty. That way I can feel again." Saix felt like he didn't say much of anything. There still wasn't something right with what he said. If Axel asked to have it repeated again, Saix didn't know if he could do any better.

"So if I can get you're heart back, that'll make you Isa again. This whole adding an 'X' thing to our names is just pointless…"

"No…they're gone. Even if we get our hearts back, we'll be Saix and Axel. The time for Isa and Lea is gone."

Axel snatched the pillow from Saix, "If you truly believe they are dead, then why the hell are you in my room? You've acting on the very memories you are trying to deny!" He sat up quickly and whacked Saix on the head, causing his blue hair to become more ruffled than usual.

_Lea pulled the pillow away harshly from Isa and used both hands to hold one end of the pillow to knock Isa over onto the bed. As Isa was hit backwards he had a look of shock on his face which quickly turned into a devious grin. Using his momentum he lifted his leg and kicked Lea in the elbow, causing Lea to let go of the pillow-_

Saix almost fell backwards onto the bed from being caught off guard. He wacked Axel's elbow with a fisted hand as he regained his balance, causing Axel to roll backwards and at the same time allowing the pillow to fall from Axel's grasp-

_-then Isa swung forward and grabbed the pillow before it reached the bed, stretched his arm back, and flung the pillow forward to hit Lea in the face._

-which Saix reached forward and caught the pillow before it hit the bed. He swiftly rose above Axel with the pillow raised above his head, ready to throw it downwards at full force-

"_That hurt Isa-!"_

"_If you would stop attacking me with pillows, Lea…"_

He stopped mid-swing. Instead, Saix dropped the pillow onto Axel. It landed with a soft plop. Saix sat back down.

"That- Hey!" Axel removed the pillow from his face. He rubbed his elbow. "You didn't throw the pillow like you're supposed to! That kinda hurt actually…"

"That was when I was eight years old. I'm not a kid anymore." Saix looked away from Axel. That memory…

"Ah-ha! See?! You are living in your memories. Lea and Isa are _not_ gone!" he sat up, a smug smile on his face, arms crossed. "Case and point."

"But that was in the past-they are people who we need to base ourselves off of now to-"

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"What-?" Saix was stunned. He stared back at Axel.

"I'm sure if it's been bothering me, it must be bothering you. I have not been feeling emotions but the actual memories that cause emotions. I feel like I'm reacting based on Lea, not on what would be my heart," He took a breath, and with a triumphant look on his face, he continued, "The reason why I want my heart back is so I can be a being that has a heart. I don't want to be based _on_ Lea. I want to _be_ Lea. I want to hang out with my buddy Isa again. Not someone who looks like Isa and can be like Isa."

Saix blinked a few times, and then closed his eyes. Why would it be when Lea was right, he would hit the nail on the head and break the board beneath it? Almost defeating the purpose _of _nailing the board in the first place.

He meant Axel. Lea was…

"Unfortunately, Xemnas is telling the truth about having no hearts, only memories," Axel said interrupting Saix's thoughts, "I believe that Xemnas is not lying about Kingdom Hearts- its completion will bring back our hearts. But I don't believe, not for a moment, that is his only goal. I think there's something else he wants and he's not telling us…"

"…Which means it can't all be that good…" Saix muttered.

"…For us," Axel was lying on the pillow, grinning, as Saix opened his eyes. There was still that annoying glint that would catch in the fire in his eyes whenever Lea-or Axel-was right.

Lea was still there. "You have a plan, don't you?" Just because Lea always had a plan, didn't mean it was well thought out.

"'Course I do! Sort of…" Axel looked out the window. Hesitation. At least he's showing it. "It's rather risky for both of us…"

"Since when have any of your grand plans never been dangerous?"

"Good point." Axel thought for a moment. "Actually, there was this one time…wait. I don't remember." He frowned, looking back at Saix. "Were they always this dangerous…?"

"Axel, you can tell me later when you do remember. Just tell me the plan." The sooner the better. The longer it would stew in his mind unattended, the greater the chance it would boil over and cause something poisonous to mutate.

"I think you should accept his offer." Saix raised an eyebrow. "Not just because he asked you to. I think, if you can get closer to him and his plans, you can figure out what's really going on in the higher circles. Then, we can plan around him and then knock him off this castle! Then you can take charge. That way, we can get out hearts back without worrying about whether Xemnas will get rid of us before then."

"Nice to you see you're working hard too." Saix put his elbow on his knee, resting his head on the palm of his hand. Some blue hair fell past his shoulders, dangling beside his arm. He felt his eyes bore into Axel's. There was still something else the fire was scheming.

"Don't bother thinking about who has the more dangerous job-we both do." The torch was still burning.

"Do tell. I'm afraid I don't quite see what you have to do." It flickered.

"I don't…really know either." Axel admitted quietly. "I mean, if you get closer to Xemnas, and give orders out, I know I'll be like the others; a tool to be used. We can't be friendly with each other when the others are around. If Xemnas sees you not relying on memories he may being to doubt you. You're our best shot of finding out what's really going on. I know you can pretend to dislike me, I mean you did it fine before but I…" Axel trailed off.

So Axel was afraid of messing up Saix's position. Lea did always say what was on his mind. But it looks like Axel is the same way. "It'll get easier over time." Axel nodded. "I'll just treat you harsher if you do step out of line again." Saix smirked. Axel looked a bit uneasy. There was still something else. The torch wasn't burning so bright anymore.

"You won't forget though? No matter how harshly you may treat me…" Axel rolled over, legs hanging awkwardly off the bed, back facing Saix. "…That we're friends. You got that memorized?"

Is that what he was afraid of? "Of course not. You know how powerful memories are. I would have to have no memories for that to happen."

"Of course. Then we'll do it." Axel didn't turn around. Saix sighed and crawled forward on the bed to lean over Axel, finding his green eyes staring back up at him with curiosity. "What?"

"You don't believe me," Saix stated. He put a hand down on the bed beside Axel to steady himself. Some strands of blue spilled down from his shoulders, tips brushing against Axel's body.

"I'm afraid," Axel exaggerated and rolled his eyes, "That you'll become _so_ power hungry and get lost in Xemnas' other plans, causing you to forget about returning to a complete person." He smiled weakly up at Saix.

Saix didn't smile back nor did he frown. Axel was hiding something. The fire wasn't even real this time. It was…

"_Have you seen those electric fires?" Lea's mom. "I know you really want a fireplace for our home but I can afford having a chimney being built in…" Isa was sitting at the top of the stairs. Guilty._

"_It's not warm," Lea pouted. "It's not real." _

Electric?

He felt a tug and a slight tighten of fabric around his neck. Axel was twirling one of the silver drawstrings of his black outfit with his hand absentmindedly. "Axel?" His eyes snapped back. A lighter was lit. Saix smiled, though his voice held a warning note, "Are you trying to…choke me?"

"Well, if you weren't going to move," Axel smirked, "I might have to kill you so I can move your dead body."

Saix moved away from Axel, the silver string slipping from his fingers. "How nice of you. I don't know if I want to bother working with you." He could feel a small smile on his face.

"It'll be worth it. I know you want Lea back. So until then, you have Axel to deal with. And I'll have to deal with a Saix." He faked a pout. "I dunno if I can," Axel said sitting up. Then suddenly his eyes lit up, fire burning like…

A forest fire. Wild and growing. Burning down any trees of logic that had grown in his mind however brief they may have lived. The trees would grow back, only to be burned down by that same illogical fire. Saix wasn't sure if he could survive another one of Lea's strange, ridiculous speeches that he would-

"So Saix…the hollow shell of Isa, who holds Isa's memories, I vow to work with you so I can once again be Lea," waving his arm, pointing to himself, "And so you can once again be Isa." Pointing to Saix, almost poking his eye, "So that neither one of us have to deal with just the hollow shells that haunt our memories of each other. Do you accept?"

Only Axel could make a speech as strange like the idiot Lea can be.

Saix felt his memories surfacing when Axel spoke that strange, but familiar speech. The words were not something Axel or Lea had said before. It was style of the speech he had before from someone else, and directed to someone other than him. The words were lingering and pulling at the threads where his memory was clipped.

He wonders if Axel remembers where he had heard those words, and why. He thinks about asking Axel, but then it might not be better to know. After all, he may not remember either.

Saix tilts his head to the side, feeling amused if he could call it. It didn't really matter where or why he heard the words anymore-the memory made him feel warm and even…happy. Being a Nobody may complicate things, but it also simplifies things too.

"I do…accept your offer."

OoooooO

A/N: Even though I said there were future chapters, this _may_ feel like it ends here. That's because when I began to write this chapter, it was as a one-shot told from Saix. After some thought, I believed it should continue so I can keep the same past between the two without explaining it again in 'another story' of Axel and Saix.

So if you notice a bit…or a lot…of a style change, part way through the story, that's why.


	2. Concealment

_**EDIT**: If you've read this chapter before July 12, 2010, there has been some editing from the second break downwards. Content is the same, just changed some wording and added/changed descriptions. Sorry for any inconvience it may cause!_

A/N: Thanks for the reviews-! Made me smile!

I should have mentioned this last chapter, but since Axel and Saix are still new Nobodies, they're going to be more human like than they are Nobody like. Especially Axel.

Anything 'science-y' is explained at the bottom, but please look _after_ you have read the chapter. Don't want to spoil yourself on the way down, right?

Anyways…now time for some mystery.

Disclaimer: Do not own.

When You Are Empty, There Is Only…

CONCEALMENT

OoooooO

"I'm absolutely thrilled that you have accepted my offer." Xemnas didn't look thrilled. Not pleased, not sarcastic. His face was blank, and his eyes were hollow. His hands rested quietly on top of his desk.

They were not in the round room, Where Nothing Gathers, but in Xemnas' research room. Saix had found a Corridor of Darkness opened in his room when he got up that morning. It seemed to call him, so he followed through it hesitantly. He wound up in Xemnas' research office with Xemnas flipping through papers on his desk on his right. The desk had books and papers stacked relatively neatly for being moved around so often. There was also a small computer like device on his desk as well. It was currently turned off.

To his left, Saix turned towards the sound of scratching pen on paper coming from the corner of the office where a very low seated chair was shoved between a tall bookcase and the wall. Vexen was in it, hair rougher like Saix's and not smoother like how it was normally kept, writing on a notepad with large books and charts laid out on his lap, down his long crossed legs and onto the floor, fanning out around him. Papers were caught underneath his boots and some were tangled in the bottom of his coat where it spread out. Two more full bookcases were on either side of Xemnas' desk, and there was another one behind Saix, peaking out from behind the Corridor.

There were two doors in the room; one, Saix suspected, lead out to the hallways and the other would probably lead to more storage of books and other reading materials. The room was generally white, with shades of grey, as were the other rooms in the castle. The books and charts where really the only source of colour. Even then the colours were all dull, dark, and worn out. For an office-research room, Saix expected a little more mess. Other than Vexen's corner, the room was more organized, a little untidy, but neat. It wouldn't be hard to find something, since it appeared that whoever else used this room always put the reading materials back where they were originally stored.

Neither of them noticed him at first. Vexen was the first to notice when he leaned forward to grab a chart. He glanced up briefly from his tangled blonde hair, and then returned back to his chart and writing before alerting Xemnas. It was then when Saix stepped towards Xemnas' desk and told him he 'felt honoured' to be in the higher circles of the Organization. He didn't feel anything about the opportunity. Not pleased he had gained one step higher on the ladder, nor was he fearful that he may fall down. It was too early to feel those things anyway, Saix reasoned.

Then, Xemnas reached into a drawer and pulled out three books and placed them out neatly on his desk for Saix to see. One was black with blue triangular shapes with circular pale yellow shapes that faded in and out of the black cover. The second was also black decorated with red rings overlapping, and intertwining with each other. The last one was lacking colour, decorated with white, black, and grey squares and rectangles of different sizes, but all vertically aligned, not one shifted from its angle to be a diamond shape instead.

Saix looked up from the books at Xemnas. They had the same golden coloured eyes. Only, Saix found, there was nothing in those eyes. Like if he looked inside an empty golden pot. Not that he could ever remembering looking into one, but that's what he found himself relating to. It was easy to lose interest looking at the eyes. Saix had to resist that urge. What if there was something inscribed on the inside of the pot he hadn't found? "Sir?"

"These books are for you and your comrade, Axel. This one," Xemnas indicated with his finger to the red and black one, "is for Axel. He may use it for whatever he wishes to write. No one will check it. Same goes for you with this blue and black book. Use it for whatever you wish to record or nothing at all. I have found with previous Nobodies," His eyes shifted to Vexen, and then back to Saix, "that they prefer to record their daily activities for some form of amusement. You may find it useful at the beginning but eventually you will find it pointless, as I did. Most of what you're doing is planning, which will need to be recorded and reported anyways. Rewriting it in a journal would be redundant. So this last book if for your observations, Saix. It is best to record them in here and make sense of your observations before transferring them to a final report. This will make both of our hollow existences easier. Vexen and Zexion have gone through enough of them to build a library out of them."

Vexen looked up at the mentioning of his name, brushing a strand of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. "Oh, and would that be a problem? We already have two libraries full in case you forgot." Saix couldn't tell if his lips formed a twisted and teasing smirk or twisted and serious grin. Maybe it was all of the above. Vexen summoned a sheet of ice in his hands. It shifted, transforming into a book, then multiple books stacked beside each other. Then a shelf formed around them, and then another bookcase formed beside it…

"I suppose I have forgotten. It's quite horrible; we really do need to complete Kingdom Hearts." Xemnas' mouth moved in an exaggerated frown, the same kind of acting Lea would do when he was pouting for attention. Vexen's…expression faded away, as did his ice sculpture which had built a little room around the bookcases before disappearing, as he went back to his writing. Xemnas should never be allowed to try out for a play. Never.

"When Kingdom Hearts is complete," Vexen spoke up again, but was still writing, "You're just going to forget everything again." Again? Saix kept his face blank, looking into _Vexen's eyes. Icy cold spears swirled around, stabbing imaginary targets playfully. _

"Vexen." Vexen looked up at Xemnas. The icy spears halted their movements and then broke into pieces, quickly reforming to make a solid wall of ice. Saix looked at Xemnas' eyes. Finally. Inside the gold pot held…chains? Of blacks, grey and whites. They extended from beyond the inner walls of the gold pot, criss-crossing over each other. The chains…or strings, had hooks extending from them…

"I-I understand…" It disappeared, leaving the gold hollow once again. Saix glanced back at Vexen, who was writing again. His eyes held an icy wall. There were cracks.

"Saix." Saix turned his attention back to Xemnas. "Soon, Zexion will summon you and Axel to have your battling style ironed out. I will have reading material sent to you tomorrow regarding our methods and steps on how we will complete Kingdom Hearts. How glorious its power shall be." A spark lit in his eyes for a moment. What else does Kingdom Hearts hold? "You can take the rest of this day off to explore the castle. Take these books with you." Saix moved to pick up the books Xemnas had given him. Xemnas turned back to papers. There was one other thing that bothered Saix.

"One question if you wouldn't mind, sir." Saix picked up the last book, placing it on top of his pile. Saix had seen ice in Vexen's eyes. Vexen's title was the Chilly Academic. Xemnas looked up, nodding. Saix locked eyes with him. "How were you able to figure out our titles? Vexen summoned ice just now, but surely he couldn't when you first found him?" If Xemnas figured out what he was really getting at, then Saix would have to learn how to lie better, or they would not be able to secure their hearts.

"That's easy. I was already aware of Vexen's power from before…" He trailed off. Vexen would be a problem, seeing that Xemnas knew him from before. "As for you, you may not remember, but," his eyes changed suddenly. There was no depth to his eyes. It was flat. "When I found you and Axel, you were still in your other clothes. Your top had an image of a moon on it, and I could sense you had a great admiration of the night sky. Axel, on the other hand, I could smell smoke. He informed me that he had to fight off some Heartless which had appeared out of the darkness and attacked the two of you." Saix didn't remember that at all. He woke up and saw Lea…or Axel at that time, and Xemnas. Did Axel mention any fighting? "From there, I gave you your names and your titles. It seems you remember that bit." Saix nodded. "Anything else?"

"No, sir. That is all." A Corridor opened beside Saix. Xemnas indicated to Saix to go through it. As Saix stepped into the Corridor, the office vanishing around him, leaving darkness for scenery, he felt a strain on his body. It was the same kind that he had felt two days ago except this time it was less draining. There were little tugs that pulled at his coat, his hair, his face, everywhere. He looked at his hand and found nothing that could be causing it, despite feeling it. He quickly walked through the Corridor, not wanting to stay here long.

It was only as he was leaving did he wonder where he would end up.

OooooooO

Axel paced around his room. He had spent his whole morning searching around the whole castle. It was white, big, empty, and boring. He found rooms with couches, rooms with just windows, and even the kitchen room with a limited supply of food. Odd, now that Axel thought about it, he hadn't been hungry for the last couple of days. Maybe as a Nobody they didn't have to eat, but only when they wanted to. He would have to ask somebody. Err...a Nobody. Anyways, Axel also found the bedrooms, doors closed and locked unfortunately, of most of the other members multiple times. Each door had a number inscribed on it. Xemnas' he couldn't find, go figure, and number II's…Xigbar, was it? He could only find it once. He searched again but no luck.

What Axel really wanted to find by the end of his search, was paint. White, white, white and grey was a real plain to look at. Who thought of this design anyways? A Nobody with a real lack of imagination. Well, the designs were fine, and intriguing Axel admitted, but the colours! The designer must be colour blinded. That's what he should do! Axel decided he would need coloured cards, red and green should do, and ask the other members if they could tell the difference. Then once he found the colour blinded designer, he could have a talk with him. Brilliant.

The first thing Axel would do is ask for a room with a beach. That wasn't too unreasonable, right? Maybe a swimming pool if they couldn't build a beach room. That would be great. However, there was still a problem. Axel didn't know where to find any colour. The cards need to have colour. He paced around his room. Where could he find some colour? Even a marker would be fine! Or coloured pens. Oh wait, he would need to find cards too. Maybe there would be spare paper he could use. He stopped in front of the mirror in his room. He stared at his red spiky haired self, green eyes reflecting back in sudden realization. Red hair. Green eyes.

Perfect! Now instead of saying, 'What's the difference between these two cards?' he could say, 'Are my eyes the same colour as my hair?' which sounded more natural. His eyes could have changed colour. Isa's eyes changed colour.

"_Come on Isa, wake up!" He cried out. He glanced behind him at the silver haired cloaked figure. He hissed at the blue haired man in his arms, "There's this really weird guy here!"_

"_Allow me," the silver haired man circled to the other side of the unconscious man. He watched as the silver haired man place his hand across the blue haired's closed eyes. When he removed them, the man began to wake up._

"_Ngh…" Eyes fluttered open. Flashes of yellow. "L-Lea…?" The eyes weren't green. They were golden. Confused._

"_I-Isa?" Just then he noticed the ears. They changed too. Pointed. Was he really Isa? _

Isa would be so proud. Axel flopped onto his bed. Pride, huh? It had been a while since he actually felt pride. Well, the speech the other day wasn't bad. He remembered giving stuff like that before, but he didn't actually feel prideful of creating it.

Where's Saix anyways? He wanted to know how the meeting went with Xemnas. Did Saix get lost trying to find Xemnas? Is Xemnas already making Saix work?

Suddenly a Corridor opened up in his room. A moment later Saix walked on through, holding a couple of books, glancing around the room cautiously.

What great timing. "Hey Saix!" Saix almost dropped the books at the sound of Axel's voice, locking eyes with him immediately. What? Doesn't he know how to work the Corridors yet? Saix looked as if he was going to ask something but then stopped. Instead he walked towards Axel, selecting a book from his pile and dropping it on his bed.

"Here. For you." He said simply. The book he dropped was black with red coloured rings looping with each other. "Write whatever you wish in it. Consider it a journal." Axel stared at Saix. Is he serious? Saix sat down beside Axel. Saix still had two books in his hands. From the spine on the bottom one, it was black with blue and yellow shapes decorating it. The one on top was a bunch of rectangles, white, black and grey. Boring like this castle.

"Who gave you that one?" Axel asked, pointing to the top one.

"Xemnas." Saix answered.

"And the other one?"

"Xemnas. And yours is from Xemnas as well."

That wasn't helpful. "Guess that means he's not colour blinded." It wouldn't be easy to ask him about the beach room if he was the designer. However, it might be easier to take over if he was colour blinded. To think, easiest person to take out: being colour blinded. Tell them to hit one of two switches. Make sure you don't hit the red switch which will be a cliché self-destruct switch! The green one is the one you want with the cliché emergency escape route! Axel smiled at the thought.

"Colour blinded?" Saix's face held a hint of confusion. He tilted his head slightly. "Do I want to know?"

Axel decided not to tell him this time. "It's nothing," he said as he looked away. He wanted to figure this out by himself. If he got stuck, then he would ask Saix. Saix's eyes were trained on his, even as Axel turned away. Isa was way too good at reading people's eyes.

"_...and that's why. Hey um…Isa?" Lea looked back at Isa, finding Isa's green eyes gazing into his. _

"_You're lying." Lea was startled. He thought it was very well crafted! There wasn't a loop hole anywhere! "Tell me the truth." Isa took a step closer to where Lea was standing on the steps to the central garden and continued to focus on Lea's eyes. Arms crossed._

"_Well, I…" This was too creepy. "Isa, can you stop staring? This is way too-"_

"_It's the only way I can tell if you're telling me the truth or not. Or how you're really feeling. Otherwise, you're too good of a liar." Lea wondered why he hadn't noticed this sooner. They had known each other for a while, unless Isa had just figured this…trick…recently. _

_Time to which subjects, "You can't lie at all Isa! I can just tell by your voice!" Lea shut his eyes. Some of the setting sunlight could still be seen through his eyelids. "Go on! Lie!" He stuck out his tongue._

_"Lea, stop acting childish." Isa paused. He was probably frowning. "Why should I try to lie? You just told me to tell you a lie."_

"_Fine. Then talk about something, and lie about one thing." Lea crossed his arms._

"_Alright…this still isn't fair." Lea didn't respond. "Fine, fine. Light is made up of all colours. Each colour has its own wavelength." Stupid Isa. Just like him to pick a subject to lie about something Lea hadn't studied. "Grass and trees appear green because colours at the red and purple ends get absorbed, leaving the greens primarily to be reflected into our eyes. That also explains the colour of our sky." Here. Isa was going to lie here. He was hesitating. "Our sky is blue because the wavelengths of the warm colours are much larger than the cool colours. The larger wavelengths pass by without problems. The shorter wavelengths however get hit by the particles in the atmosphere. They get scattered across the sky, making the sky appear blue to our eyes." Even though Lea didn't understand exactly what Isa was talking about, he was still telling the truth. "For sunsets, they're warmer colours because of the sun's angle. This causes the light to travel at a further angle. The wavelengths are blues die out because they have shorter wavelengths than the reds, leaving the reds to travel on because they have longer wavelengths. Then..."_

"_There! The last bit. About the wavelengths dying out. You're lying about that!" Lea opened his eyes to a surprised Isa. "I may not know exactly what you're talking about, but you were lying about dying wavelengths."_

_Isa looked up at the setting sun. "Yeah. You're right." He moved to go sit down on the stone steps where Lea was standing. Lea sat down beside him. _

"_So, why does the sun set red?"_

"_You think you would understand?" Isa questioned. Lea nodded. "Alright, I'll make it simple anyways." Thanks, Isa... "Blues get scattered so much, that hardly any reaches our eyes, only leaving the reds…"_

"Anyways…" Axel dragged out the word, turning back to Saix, "what happened with Xemnas? You're still in one piece."

"He was…pleased, that I had accepted his offer." Saix paused. "He's a horrible actor," Saix said more to himself than Axel. "I don't want to end up like him."

"How bad?" Axel inquired. He hadn't seen much of Xemnas at all. "Is he that bad?"

Saix had a small amused smile on his face. "Yes. Like how you would pout for attention occasionally. That painful. That fake."

Ouch. "I gotcha. Are the other Nobodies that bad?" Axel didn't know if he would go crazy from false acting or just point and laugh. Or, would he become like them too? That was a scary thought. Wait…a thought? Again? Seriously, where were all the feelings hiding? He never thought a heart would be such a problem.

"No. Not Vexen at least." He didn't elaborate. Guess that means he was okay…for a Nobody. "Vexen will be a problem, I believe. He's close to Xemnas. I think if Xemnas were to fall, Vexen might take charge."

"Why him?"

"He was in Xemnas' office when I was there. He also knew something about Xemnas' past." Saix's voice changed as he spoke the last part. He was hiding something and he didn't continue.

"And…? What about Xemnas' past?" Axel leaned forward, seeing what he could read off of Saix's face. If he tries to look away, then he's not telling me something.

Saix looked Axel straight in the eye. "I'm not sure. Vexen was vague about it." Huh. Axel was puzzled. He was sure Saix would have looked away. Guess that meant he was being honest. His voice didn't falter slightly, or pause. "Something wrong, Axel?"

"Naw, it's fine." Axel knew he would figure it out later. Who knows how long they were going to be here anyways? "Want me to show you around? I know where everything is. Got it all memorized."

OoooooO

A few days later as promised, Zexion came to get Axel and Saix. Now the Organization needed to test their strength to see how they fitted in terms of combat.

They were both brought to a huge room with windows reaching from the floor to the ceiling along the circumference part of the semi-circular room. The windows showed only the night sky which had been eternally there since Axel and Saix had arrived. The room was void of any furniture, as Zexion informed the two, making it ideal for combat. Any damage done to the room could be fixed quite easily. Axel had inquired who would fix it and Zexion replied it wasn't his concern. Saix pondered a bit about the odd question from Axel, seeing the fire flickered in his eyes briefly before composing itself. Axel brushed it off as he walked off towards the wide windows to take a look outside.

The wall to the left of where Axel stood in front of the large set of windows was Lexaeus and Xaldin. Lexaeus leaned against the side wall with Xaldin, both talking quietly with each other. Lexaeus had his arms crossed, face as motionless as a stone carving, as he listened to Xaldin's words. His only movements were the necessity of blinking and a brief movement of his mouth to indicate a short reply to Xaldin. Xaldin was leaning on his arm against the wall, periodically glancing over at Saix dragging his long black dreads of hair from front to back of his body and then back again. About the top half of his hair was tied back, leaving the bottom half to hang freely. His other arm moved about in the air, gesturing as he spoke to his companion.

"Lexaeus will be the testing opponent," said a voice beside Saix's right arm. He looked down at Zexion who was the youngest member of the Organization. Saix could see one bored blue eye clearly focused on Lexaeus and Xaldin while the other was hidden by the layering of the silvery waterfall of hair. "No one, except Xemnas, has been able to overcome his sheer strength and defence. While that doesn't make him undefeated, it means that he will be able to test both you and Axel's abilities without an issue arising of any major injuries. Magic might be the only thing of minor concern," Zexion looked up at Saix, "but I don't think neither you nor Axel look like the type to use magic. If it does arise…I'll be the one to test it out. You're first Saix, being number VII, so summon your weapon and give try it out before you begin." Zexion finished his instructions and walked over to where Axel was standing by the window.

Saix took a moment to tuck some hair underneath his coat, not wanting it to get in the way during combat. Some still hung out, but not nearly as much as before. Saix wasn't sure on to how to summon his weapon as he held out his hand. He was not sure what to expect to be summoned. It's not like he used a weapon to fight with before. He closed his eyes. Strangely enough he did feel something. A kind of tingling hovering above his outstretched hand. Somehow he could feel it extend away from his hand like a long, thick, heavy, stick. Was this the form of his weapon?

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Saix opened an eye and found Axel looking back, a small smile in place. "Troubles?" Saix remained quiet, closing his eye again. "Lemme help. You know that…hmm…vibrating feeling in your hand? Just focus on that feeling. Think if you can…like, pull the vibrations together." Axel paused and Saix tried pulling the tingling pieces together. They became slightly stronger and a bit harder to be held together. Axel continued to struggle with his explanation, "and you want to make become stronger. Stronger so that it'll appear. It happened something like that…" Magnets. It felt like small magnets a child would try to force the two south ends together. Suddenly the form of the weapon flashed in Saix's mind as he felt a heavy weight drop into his outstretched hand. "There!"

Saix opened his eyes to see a long shape in his hand. "What is it?" Saix asked. "It isn't anything I've seen before." He brought his other hand to the white hilt as he lifted it up to look at it. It was as long as he was tall, taking on a blue silvery colour with hints of yellow along the blade. The blade curved in and outwards symmetrically, ending in a large circular pattern with seven spikes sticking out. A pale yellow symbol of a Nobody was in the center, seeming to hold the end piece together.

"Well," Axel began, "This will sound stupid, but what does your mind say? My mind said mine are chakrams."

As silly as it had sounded, Saix listened. "A claymore." Saix repeated. He took a few swings as Axel went to the sidelines to lean against the window where Zexion was. Swinging horizontally was easier than vertically. Swinging his claymore wasn't much different than using a bat when…

_Lea stood ready at second base. Heat from the afternoon summer sun. Families forming the audience. It was the yearly summer tournament for baseball. Isa focused on Lea's eyes. Communication was their key. The fire coiled into a spring, held down, waiting to be released. Isa turned back to the pitcher and gave the faintest of nods. Isa's bat was ready._

_The pitcher eyed Isa nervously, then looking behind him to the back catcher. Isa focused on the pitcher's eyes. He wasn't going to miss this pitch. He would get Lea to Home. Isa saw the movement of a boomerang in the pitcher's eyes._

_A curve ball then. Isa readied himself. The pitcher's face was kept blank, focused, as he pulled his arm back. As he threw the ball forward, Isa could still see the curved afterimages of the boomerang in flight in the pitcher's eyes. Lea sprinted forward._

_Isa swung and contact the ball on it's curved path, dropping the bat immediately and sprinting to first base. Lea made home base given his head start, while Isa barely made it to second._

Lexaeus stepped forward from Xaldin. He stretched his arms as approached the center of the room where Saix was. "Ready, runt?" he taunted with a smirk on his face. Saix nodded, not letting his face show neither fear nor confidence. Lexaeus' eyes were steady, solid like the earth. There were slight cracks in the earth, where small stems of plants began to peak out. "Then come at me! You will learn your stance and your power!"

Saix held his weapon to his side with his two hands, not really sure how to hold it now that he had to fight with it. Figuring he should get over it, he ran forward, even though Lexaeus still didn't have his weapon summoned. If Lexaeus wanted to fight with a weapon, he should have summoned it sooner, Saix thought. Lexaeus stepped back to dodge the first few swings, but then began blocking once Saix had better control. Perhaps he doesn't need a weapon at this point as he seems to be doing well without it.

OooooooO

"A claymore, is it? It looks different than typical ones."

Axel was on the sidelines with Zexion. He had a notepad and pen out, preparing his pages for recording. He is younger than the rest of us, Axel noted, looking down at him. Maybe by a couple of years at least. With his silvery hair hiding half his face, it's kind of hard to tell. Being on Zexion's left Axel could easily make out a blue eye scanning over the page as he began to make some notes about the appearance of Saix's weapon.

Xaldin and Lexaeus were at one end of the room against the wall. Axel didn't like the look on Xaldin's face. Lexaeus' expression was blank but his words only seemed to encourage Xaldin. Xaldin would occasionally look over at Saix, creating a small tugging in his brain that made Axel believed he had met these two before. Unfortunately he couldn't think of anything past that. The nagging felt like a small warning. They glanced towards Saix again as Lexaeus spoke. For the first time he heard laughter from the two. It was hollow, echoing through the room. Axel couldn't help but think they were up to something. He glanced back at Zexion who was too busy preparing his papers to notice. Or to care.

Saix was focused on his weapon, ignoring Xaldin and Lexaeus. He was testing the swings, more horizontally than vertically, much like…

_Isa swung the bat a few times. He changed his grip and swung a few more times before he was satisfied. "You ready Lea?" Lea nodded. Batting time._

_Lea pitched, not a baseball but a stone, towards Isa. Isa tensed, then swung the bat, connecting with the stone. Lea followed the arc of the stone with his eyes as it flew off towards the large castle in the town. A satisfying sound of shattering glass reached their ears. Lea grinned. Isa had a hint of regret on his face. Lea faced Isa. "What, you regret doing his?"_

"_No." Isa looked away, voice faltering. He gripped the bat harder._

"_Liar." Isa looked back apologetically. Lea grinned. They heard a roar from the castle. "Isa, they deserved it. It was payback time. They got lots of money._

_They can repair the window easily."_

_"But what if we broke something really, really valuable?" Lea shrugged. Guess that means they would learn not to mess with us. _

Axel couldn't remember who or why they deserved it. He felt his gaze being drawn back at Xaldin and Lexaeus as he remembered the castle. _He didn't understand why and couldn't find in the scattered memories anything to support the nagging feeling._

Finally, Lexaeus stepped forward, acting rather too confident for Axel. "Ready runt? Then come at me! You will learn your stance and your power!" His feet made a wide base, his arms brought out from his side making him look like he could stop a rushing beast from a deadly charge.

"'Learn your stance?'" Axel repeated to Zexion, who had his eyes trained on Saix. His pen was poised as Saix rushed forwards towards Lexaeus who had not summoned his weapon. "And isn't Lexaeus going to use a weapon?" Zexion began to write.

Without taking his eyes off of neither Saix, nor pausing in writing, Zexion replied, "With the weapon Saix uses, a claymore you said, there is no way he can use it efficiently holding it like that. He holds it much like some kind of club children would play with. As Saix fights, he will learn a more suitable stance from experience." Axel was curious as to where Zexion had seen children 'play' with a clubs. "Lexaeus doesn't need a weapon right now. He's strong enough to fight and block with his hands at this point."

True to Zexion's words, Lexaeus was capable enough. At first he was dodging Saix's swings and occasionally blocking them. Now that the fight had progressed, he was using fists to jab at Saix, knocking Saix around a bit. Saix began to learn how to avoid some attacks from Lexaeus and block with his weapon. Axel crossed his arms and leaned his head against the chilled window, looking up at the ceiling. At least Axel had already fought once. He would be able to put on a decent show. Maybe he could summon fire again.

_"Lea? Lea!" He turned toward the sound. Isa. He was alive! He could make his friend out from the Darkness as it darkened his friend._

_"Isa!" He made his way carefully to his friend. The ground, even though it was hard to see, wasn't even. It was as if roots and rocks of this Dark stuff littered the ground. Everywhere was dark. Above, below, around. Lea wondered how they could even see each other when his own feet were fading from the Dark mist. He could see the blue hair more clearly now, and the dark blue shirt with a moon on it. He too was looking down at the ground, trying not to trip._

_They were close. "Isa!" He was felt a dull happiness. As if he should feel thankful but he wasn't in the mood to be thankful. Blue hair began to rise up, a flash of yellow, then suddenly falling down. "Isa-?" _

_There was something black on his friend's back. The black thing moved. It looked up at him, circular yellow eyes watching him. They were hollow, only following instinct._

"_Get off of Isa!" He yelled, swinging his arm towards the creature, summoning a circular weapon in his hands before connecting with the creature, sending it flying. He stared at the weapon. His hand held the black cross shaped handle which extended to four smaller rings, all connected by one large ring. Eight spikes jutted outward from larger ring. The inside of the rings were red while the outside were silvery. Then he noticed he had a second one in his second hand, identical to the first. "What is this?"_

_A word whispered inside his head. 'A chakram. Summon fire to defeat the Heartless.' He must be crazy now. This whole place was!_

"_Summon fire? But how?" The creature-the Heartless- was moving closer. Though he couldn't see its body, its yellow eyes gave away its position. The eyes sudden lurched forward. "No, stay back!" He flung his arm out, releasing the chakram as he would throw a Frisbee._

_Suddenly he could feel a fire raging inside his body. He felt hot and was growing hotter. It wasn't uncomfortable. Like spending the afternoon in the Sun. Except this heat was felt inside, not on his skin. 'Release' and he did. He wasn't sure how, but fire jetted outwards from his shoulder along his outstretched arm to his chakram, encasing it in fire, and then spiralling out towards the Heartless. _

_The Heartless, trapped in the tornado of fire, could be seen- It had a small back body that reminded him of an ant with only four legs. Suddenly the fiery cage shrunk around the Heartless, incinerating it. The burning ball of fire hung for a moment before disappearing. _

Axel was pulled out of his memories from Zexion's voice. "Come on Lexaeus," Zexion muttered, "pull out his strength. If not, he'll just be a weaker version of you. I was hoping for a different style of fighting for the Organization." Zexion didn't look disappointed at all as he had stopped writing and held a dead like gaze at the fight. He looked almost like he was ready to fall asleep.

The battle had shifted towards the wall opposite from where Axel and Zexion stood. As Saix swung at Lexaeus, Lexaeus rolled below the swing stopping behind Saix and immediately standing. Then Lexaeus rammed forward pinning Saix against the wall, taunting him, "What you have is okay, but I want you to show me what you have hidden. Zexion's bored."

Zexion scoffed at the comment. Axel pondered if they knew each other from before, since V and VI are close numbers.

OoooooO

Saix felt his lungs lose air and then dazed from his head hitting the wall. When he was stunned Lexaeus used one hand to twist Saix's left arm against his back and the other was holding his arm, which was holding his claymore, away from his body. Pain brought him back from his daze as Lexaeus pushed his chest against Saix, causing his arm to dig into his back.

His voice sounded very loud next to Saix's ear, "Come, and show me your hidden strength. What you have is okay, but I want you to show me what you have hidden. Zexion's bored." Saix tried to swing his weapon with one arm, but couldn't reach Lexaeus from his angle. "Hah," he whispered into Saix's ear, "I thought that maybe your weapon might make me remember fear. But no…the mere memory of a woman with shimmering hair storming up to me is far more fearful!" Saix couldn't understand why Lexaeus would mention a woman. He tried kicking back at Lexaeus, but it didn't seem to bother him. "I thought she was going to hit me with her hand all fisted up as she raised it up high, ready to strike…" he constricted his grip on Saix's arms painfully.

_From the moonlight coming from his window, Isa saw her swing the dull green bottle down, clipping him on the arm. Immediately he shut his eyes just before feeling the alcohol burn on his skin soaking through his pyjamas._

"…drunk on rage…"

_He opened his eyes slowly. He felt the sharp pain of where pieces of the bottle found its way onto his neck, face, arms, and even his legs. Looking down he saw sparkles of green in his pyjama shorts and t-shirt top and the hair that hung down beside his face. On the rug some more pieces lay around him, catching in the pale moonlight._

"But no," The sudden surge of memories felt out of place to Saix. He turned his head painfully, scanning Lexaeus eyes for a hint of anything, "She wasn't going to do that with our master around…" The earth was opening, large roots tearing the fissure open. Saix didn't care for a memory of Lexaeus' original self with an argument with a woman. Then, he could see himself reflected on the surface of Lexaeus' eyes. Blue hair falling out from beneath his coat, hanging along his shoulders in caught in Lexaeus' hold…

"_Get it out of here!" She cried out as she shook her head, causing her silvery blue hair to flash in the night light, falling out from her lazily pinned hair. She held the neck of the bottle with its jagged pieces forming an abstract crown. She waved it at Isa._

"Get off!" Saix roared, swinging his weapon sideways with a sudden surge in strength. Lexaeus was caught off guard, receiving a cut in his arm and side as he skidded back a few feet. He stepped to his right, watching Saix. Lexaeus extended his arm summoning his weapon cautiously. With one hand he held his large black and red hooked shaped weapon. It wasn't as long as Saix's but wider, like a large axe with a shortened handle.

_Isa stepped back from her waving, holding his telescope closer to him. He winced as he felt the bottle shards dig into his feet. He looked down and saw small specks of blood staining the rug. Then he eyed the window. His desk was under the window which wouldn't be a problem to get over. For once the night sky was clear. He could see the moon. Why tonight? Why, why…_

"_So you're going to stand up against me?" He looked back at his mom. Her hair created wispy shadows across her face as she lifted her chin. Her lips turned into a sneer. "You don't have a chance!" He shivered._

Saix dully noted his surroundings blur like looking through an unfocused lens. Only the being standing in front of him remained focused as if it was the only one with a physical presence. The being, his target, was opposing him. It still held aggression as he could see the muscles in its arms tighten as it lifted its weapon higher off the ground. The hand around the hilt tightened as its legs shifting apart, ready to move. Saix ran forward a few steps before, leaping high above it, chucking his weapon down-

_Lifting the bottle above her head again, her eyes widened as did her sneer as she threw the bottle downwards-_

Leaving a huge crack in the ghostly white floor where the target had stood. The claymore remained upright like a post. Saix spotted his target to his right having dodging the blow completely. Saix then twisted his right without falling-

_Isa rushed to his left causing more glass from the rug cut into his feet as he headed to his desk. His heart thudded harder with each ping of pain. He clambered over it, scrunching and ripping the instructions for the telescope as he slid out open window- "Don' you dare-!"_

_No you don't-! _Saix summoned another claymore, flinging it to the right, where the target had stopped. Its eyes expanded in shock-

_He was halfway over the ledge when he felt something hit his back, causing him to gain too much momentum, tumbling over the sill. He gasped in pain and rising fear clenched his chest. _

Without a problem it deflected the flying claymore, sending it to land away. Saix landed on the ground. The target was no longer cautious; it had gained a true fighting stance. It raised its weapon above its head, swinging downwards, the end hitting the floor creating a large shockwave causing pieces of white floor to separate.

_He landed on his side, feeling an unsettling combination of cool grass and glass being pushed deeper into his face. He heard the fluttering of papers and then saw the pieces of newsprint landing top of him and around him. 'Another Year, Let's Keep Living: 10 Ways to Party Safely'. _

"That's quite the impressive strength you have! You can stop now." His target spoke. Saix stalked forward as he swung his weapon behind him in his right hand. _It was still intact._

"_I'll break it till there's nothin' left!" Isa looked up. She was leaning outside his window with her hair swinging around wildly in the night with the remainder of the broken bottle neck still in her hand. Isa looked at his telescope, parts were scattered and broken peaking from the grass. If he could take it to a repairman then maybe…_

"If you won't listen, then you're no good to the Organization!" It lifted its large weapon off the ground as it charged. Saix sped forward as well feeling a magnetic pull towards his target. He stopped in front of his target as it swung its weapon. Saix raised his claymore to block the swing.

_Isa looked back up and felt a look of horror invade his face as she threw down the remaining bottle neck. He didn't have time to gather the pieces, scrambling away as the remaining piece shattered around the telescope. The pieces shimmering in the moonlight created a dangerous sea around the telescope remains._

It wasn't enough to completely stop the swing, as it cut into Saix's shoulder a bit, but it was enough to surprise his target. Saix swung swiftly twice before his target could react followed by a powerful third slash cutting his target deeply in the arm and sending it backwards. It clutched its non sword arm where the cut was dealt. Black and grey hooks and threads leaked out and tumbled down a bit before vanishing into nothing.

"_So it's still there!" She laughed hysterically, "Look at the pretty pieces it's in! Looks like I still have some work to do. Don' want anyone to fix it." _

Its target turned to the side, "Zexion! Support!" Saix rushed forward, _not wanting it to be repaired. _

_He took one last look at sharp glass fragments, shiny black tubes and clear lens pieces of the telescope. The pieces shimmered and blurred. He ran feeling cool, wet trails on his cheeks. "I know where to find you, my dear Isa! You can't run!" He felt each step poking the glass painfully into his feet, not caring about leaving a small spotted trail of blood on the stoned path._

It turned back to face Saix, stepping back to avoid the first sweep, then rolling out of the way to avoid Saix's combo. _You won't be able to run away. I know where to find you, my target. I will finish what I started._

OooooooO

Axel watched Saix struggle against Lexaeus, not feeling any urge to help. He tapped his finger against his arm as he pondered. Shouldn't he want to help Saix? Saix is basically Isa after all, so shouldn't he…?

Suddenly, Saix whipped around knocking Lexaeus back a few feet roaring "Get off!" The rough tone sent a chill creeping down his spine. Axel's hands gripped his arms harder as he watched Lexaeus slowly circle to his right summoning his weapon in his hand. The blade wasn't straight, but was hooked shaped instead. While it was not as long as Saix's it was wider it looked even heavier. Axel doubted he could lift it with two hands. The base of the blade was black with dark red lines outlining the blade. The handle was sea blue with yellow diamond shapes adorning it. Axel wondered why Lexaeus would summon his weapon now. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xaldin lean forward from the wall, paying greater attention than before. Was this apart of their plan?

Zexion flipped over a new page and Axel noted he had written quite a few pages. "Yes Lexaeus, draw him out…" Zexion's whispered like his hand brushing flattening the page. Axel saw Zexion's eyes change in colour. The light blue darkened around the edges of the iris until a dark blue faintly outlined the pupil. He felt his palms sweat from inside the gloves as he thought he saw the dark blue change to olive and even a hint of gold glinting.

With a crunch a boots on the floor's grit Axel's eyes darted back to Saix as he ran toward Lexaeus. He leapt above Lexaeus throwing his weapon downwards at him. Lexaeus moved away from the massive shockwave the claymore created as it cut deeply into the floor. The claymore remained upright stuck in the ground where the huge crack supported it. Lexaeus halted in front of Axel and Zexion. Saix twisted right towards them, summoning another claymore and flung it at Lexaeus before falling to the ground. Lexaeus deflected the claymore. As it hit the ground it clattered and skidded, just stopping just before Axel and Zexion.

Axel's ears only heard the claymore's path because his eyes were focused on Saix. His mouth hung open. His arms were no longer crossed and now dangled by his sides. "What…?" His voice barely registered in his ears. Saix had landed on the ground and slowly rose up, blue hair falling away from his face. Axel's brain vaguely saw Lexaeus was still standing a few feet in front of them as he gave a quick glance backwards to Zexion. Saix's skin was paler than before contained in the framing sky hair…

"I have enough data," Zexion informed Lexaeus snapping Axel from his trance. "We can move onto Axel now." Lexaeus nodded a dangerous grin fading to a serious firm line.

"That's quite the impressive strength you have!" Lexaeus called out, "You can stop now."

"Now just to get Saix back…" Zexion muttered to his book, scribbling down more notes.

Get Saix back? Axel looked back at Saix realizing it wasn't just the skin tone that had changed. The skin itself on his face was taut, stretching hinting the skull underneath. Saix's usually ruffled hair was rougher as if static lingered among the strands, surviving a massive pillow war. His eyes trailed to the eyes which had first escaped his scan. They were wider and the pupils were dilated so much that from where Axel stood could only see yellow. There was no thought in those eyes and never shifted from Lexaeus when Zexion spoke.

_It looked up at him, circular yellow eyes watching him. They were hollow, only following instinct._

"If you won't listen, then you're no good to the Organization!" Lexaeus declared loudly. Saix didn't flinch or show any sign of registering his words.

Axel turned to Zexion not flinching from his dark eye, "He won't actually destroy-?" but stopped when he saw Saix flung himself towards Lexaeus as he swung his weapon.

"If it comes down to it, then yes. We can't have a member who will not listen to orders." Zexion blinked and suddenly the darkness in his eye vanished leaving it clear blue. Saix the swing from Lexaeus and immediately hit Lexaeus rapidly in succession with a striking powerful blow to end it, sending Lexaeus backwards.

Black and grey threads and hooks leaked from his side and arm. It wasn't red and looked nothing like blood. Axel opened his mouth to ask Zexion but halted when he spotted Xaldin striding from his spot, winds from nowhere whirling around him, summoning a spear. It was long, sleek and purple with a hooked spade attached to the end. Lexaeus turned towards Zexion, growling "Zexion, support!" Zexion had stopped writing and summoned a large black book in his hands with white symbols and writing the cover. He opened the book and it began to glow green.

Axel extended his arms to summon his chakrams but stopped. What could he do here? He didn't really have any skill with them. Not enough to stop Lexaeus, Xaldin and Zexion in any case. Zexion stepped forward, pages of his book fluttering sharply…

_A cool evening spring wind blew from the open window softly fluttering the pages of the textbooks laid out on the desk_. _Isa was sitting at his desk in his room, books and notes out before him. He held his head in his hands staring hopelessly at the pages of countless words. _"_I can't do it!" Isa groaned. "There's no time and I'm not ready!" Lea quietly walked on the rug and came up from behind Isa and hit him with his textbook. Isa turned around to face Lea, angered. "Lea? What was that for?" His eyes narrowed._

Axel began to follow Zexion but stopped when his boot knocked against something hard on the ground. He looked down and saw a claymore on the ground from when Lexaeus had deflected it. It had larger spikes with translucent blue peaks extending from it. Maybe...he could knock some sense into him, literally. He picked up the claymore and balanced it in his hands. Then he ran forward past Zexion.

He heard Zexion's voice as he called out after him. "Axel? Axel! Get back here! Xaldin, get Axel before-!" Axel sped up instead, not wanting Xaldin to catch him as he heard Xaldin's turbulent winds move closer. Saix had his back to Axel with his weapon locked against Lexaeus'. He wasn't going to let them destroy Saix. _Isa-_

_"-Snap out of it._ _Are you going to start studying? Or are you not even going to try?" Lea's eyes looked behind Isa to the notes. Lea was thankful he didn't have to know that much detail in his lessons. _

Axel felt the weapon vibrate slightly in his hands and spread outwards from his hands to cover the rest of his body. He felt it invade his mind as Lexaeus turned into an unfocused blur of black with a burnt orange top. The howling of the wind became muffled, the pages only a soft flitter. Instead he could clearly hear the grinding of the claymore against the large black axe. The being in front of him with pointed ears and azure hair appeared painfully sharp in contrast to the surroundings. His focused figure had one gloved hand on the hilt retaining its grip, another gloved hand pushing against the blue blade to fend off the other shape.

_Isa shook his head, hair hitting Lea's face. "No! Lea, there's no point in starting now! It won't make any difference." Lea scrunched his nose and pulled his head back. He raised his fist and paused. He relaxed his hand. "I should just give-"_

The claymore felt no more than a pipe in his hands and was strangely becoming lighter. He glanced at it and saw parts of the weapon chipping off in white and blue hooks. He ran faster towards his target swinging sideways with all the strength he could. He caught his unaware target in the upper back, freeing strands of the blue to the ground. A loud snarl pieced his ears as it turned, its waxed yellow eyes locking onto his.

_Smack. Isa's widen green eyes as Lea retracted his hand. He opened his mouth._

Axel bent down from the threatening yellow gaze and swept the weapon at a downwards diagonal angle, knocking the target's feet out causing it to fall to the ground. It shut its eyes as Axel raised his weapon above his head, feeling it no lighter than a feather.

The target blinked in a daze, confusion in the golden eyes dispersing quickly. "Axel?"

"_L-Lea?"_

He swung the claymore downwards. He felt it fade away too quickly, feeling a sharp cold wind cutting into his hands through his gloves.

"_Shut it and start studying. Even if you can't ace the test, it's better than scoring nothing at all." Even Lea had his limits when Isa can be too stubborn…and the school Isa attends is no help. High marks and all that fanciness…it occasionally results in a stinging hand._

His fist landed harshly on the ground beside the target's side. Axel fell to his knees, resting his elbows on the ground. A dull pain began to form in his fists and arms indicating how sore they were. He hung his head as he stared at the blurred cracked white ground, mind feeling blank and dizzy as the blurring cracks came into focus.

He closed his eyes as he tried to remember. Isa. Saix.

_"If you won't listen, then you're no good to the Organization!" _

_"He won't actually destroy-?" _

_"If it comes down to it, then yes. We can't have a member who will not listen to orders."_

He was stopped though, right?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a shadow appeared over him. He felt hands hesitantly touch his shoulders. Axel looked up, not sure if he would see Zexion, Xaldin or...

Above him, Saix was bent over him and stared into his eyes. Axel felt his muscles relax in a dull relief that Saix was safe. Saix looked unsettled, probably from the fighting Axel guessed. Axel became distracted from further thought as he noticed two faint scars on Saix's face. The one end of the scar was on his forehead above one eye, extending between his eyes reaching below the opposite eye. The second scar mirrored that first one forming a pale 'X' between his eyes. There was neither blood or shades of red to indicate if it bled nor was there any 'leaks' of those threads like with Lexaeus. Axel was sure it wasn't there before he stopped Saix. Subconsciously Axel reached his hand to examine the scar. This action broke Saix from his trace as his eyes trail the approaching hand to his face, "Axel…what-?" Axel was sure he couldn't have inflicted the scar…

"Lexaeus! Xaldin! Why didn't you stop them?" Zexion's echoing voice snapped their attention from each other to the trio of cloaks standing by the windows. Axel quickly retrieving his hand that hovered in front of Saix's face and brushed off Saix's hands from his shoulders. Zexion had joined Lexaeus and Xaldin, hitting them both with his large book.

Lexaeus eyed the book as it tapped his arm and replied, "I was trying not to get injured further. You could've done more than healing and barriers." He folded his arms, the place where the cut had been before was healed. Even the fabric of the coat was renewed.

Xaldin ignored the book and spun his lance around in his hand. "I didn't expect the runt to move so fast…" he said as he looked away, hiding a smirk. Axel's stomach fell slightly as he realized this battle to Xaldin and Lexaeus wasn't meant to be fair from the start. It wasn't just testing the strength to them. How much of this playing around and destruction was part of their plan?

Yet, with Zexion's comments, he couldn't help but feel there was more to this battle. It was like they were expecting this to happen. Zexion was done talking with Lexaeus and Xaldin as he turned to walk back towards them. He would have to fill Saix in later.

Axel stood up and extended his hand to Saix. He was acting confident when he really was still shaky. Saix took Axel's hand uncertainly, and then stumbled. "Whoa, Saix! Take it easy there. You just had one hell of a battle." Axel stretched his mouth to form a weak grin. Saix uncertainly looked around the room as he stood properly, from the cracks in the floor of the room, and to the sight of Lexaeus', Xaldin's and Zexion's weapons out. "That was some hidden strength that I didn't know you had." Saix was still uneasy. "C'mon," Axel hissed in his ear, "look more awake."

"Of course you wouldn't know," Zexion's voice startled Axel with his sudden proximity, pulling away quickly from Saix. Zexion had placed his notepad and pen on top of his closed book. "When you become a Nobody, your current power is amplified greatly or is created from seemly nowhere. It's great that we were able to knock you out of your…berserker state." Zexion face was blank as he looked Saix up and down.

"Berserker?" Saix asked. His eyes clouded slightly and his eyebrows furrowed. Did that mean Saix couldn't remember?

"Yes." Zexion looked up at Saix. "Lexaeus was able to awaken your true fighting abilities. You are able to fight with an unrestrained aggression." He gestured to the torn room. "That allows you to surpass Lexaeus' strength if you can connect your attacks properly. Your speed can even surpass his as well. What needs to be done now, is to refine your combat skills when you're not in your berserker state and discover how you entered that mode. You don't recall what happened, do you?"

"No…not really," Saix said. His eyes were unfocused as he spoke. "I remember fighting Lexaeus of course. Then at some point, there was this strange…fixation I had on him. Almost like there was nothing else I could do but fight him. And then…" Saix trailed off.

Zexion twirled his pen. "The Lunar Diviner. You introduced yourself as such, but Xemnas gave you title, didn't he?" Saix nodded. Zexion tapped his pen on his notepad. "Yet there's no moon here. Is it possible that you had any…images of the moon in your mind?" A pause from Saix and he nodded again. Saix's face was blank now, as if he the fight was nothing more than a small quarrel. The only thing that gave him away was his half vacant eyes. Zexion seemed satisfied with his answer and Axel thought he caught a hint of relief across his face. "Guess he was able to find out after all…" Zexion muttered to himself as he began to write again.

Axel tried to lean over Zexion to read his writing but it was too messy to figure it out. Axel had hoped to figure out who 'he' was and what this person had figured out. The confirmation of the title, and the moon activating Saix's strength set Axel off. Zexion and Saix agreed that the moon awaken the fighting rage, while Axel knew from his experience that he had no thoughts of the moon, just the weapon. So why didn't either of them ask about his experience? It was as if Zexion only seemed concerned about confirming a theory about the title and the moon connection. Axel's best guess of this 'he' was Xemnas. Afterall, Xemnas was the one who gave them their titles. Which raised another question; How did Xemnas know about the moon connection ahead of time? Does he have some kind of power to see into the abilities of a Nobody? As Axel leaned back Zexion looked up at him, his eye narrowed ever so slightly. Axel raised an eyebrow in response which Zexion ignored and turned back to Saix.

"…Another thing that needs to be worked on is your summoning of weapons. After you have…disposed of them, you also need to make them vanish. Otherwise your opponents, like Axel demonstrated, will knock you around and out of your berserk state. Speaking of which, you're going to need to find a way out of your berserk mode other than being knocked around. Hopefully it will wear off over time, but it still needs to be controlled." He scribbled down a few more words before glancing up at Saix. "At least now you have a battle scar," he noted.

Zexion was back at his notes again when Saix looked to Axel with his eyes questioning and mouth slightly open. Axel drew lines on his own face, copying Saix's scar and mouthed, 'later'.

Without looking back at them, Zexion' coat swished as he turned. "Saix, you come to the side with me," he said as he walked back to where he and Axel were standing earlier by the windows. "You can rest here while Axel gets tested out." Saix gave Axel a final blank look before following Zexion.

Xaldin approached Axel. "No more weird tricks alright?" He put his hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. "Not like a frame like yours can pull something like that off." A wide grin covered his face, eyes taunting.

Axel pried Xaldin's hand off. "As long as you don't I won't. Keeping a fair trade." Then he added, "Like what you two planned with Saix…"

Xaldin's grin became devious. "So you figured it out, huh? You two deserve it though." He twirled his lance from one hand to another behind his back.

Axel narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean-?"

"Guess you haven't!" Xaldin leapt back. "Let's have some fun instead!" He summoned another spear identical to the first one, holding one each hand.

Axel held out his arms, summoning his weapons with ease. A chakram appeared in each hand as he added a little flare. Fire danced and snaked around the chakrams' rings.

"Zexion, make sure this one learns some magic! He could be quite deadly with these!" Xaldin summoned a wind, levitating above the ground by a foot. As flew forward, he used the wind to pull the fire away from the chakrams.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Axel parried a blow from Xaldin, and then swung around…

OoooooO

Saix sat down, resting his head against the cold window. He could make out Axel and Xaldin fighting but he wasn't seeing them. His memories of his battle were hazy after Lexaeus had pinned him up until he saw Axel, ready to strike him with his own weapon. He felt a cold knot in his stomach again but weaker than before, now that he knew Axel wasn't out to kill him. He tried to sort out the blurred part of the battle but they kept coming back to when…

_He hit the ground, landing on his back and hitting his head as well. A dull pain registered in his head as he blinked. He felt dizzy, vision blurring more than it had been. Then the blurring sharpened and his vision felt painful with the sudden contrast. Before he could shut his eyes a black shape hovered above him making his stomach lurch. Saix blinked hard not believing the figure above him. He was still there. The Organization black coat. Red spiky hair. He was holding a large white weapon above his head…his claymore. The question of his claymore was so minor in comparison to why Axel was…_

"_Axel?" His teeth and mouth were bared in an inhuman manner. Saix looked at Axel's eyes. He regretted looking into his eyes for answers for the first time he could remember. His eyes were more terrifying than he had ever seen. The normally solid emerald base hung about in jewel fragments, shattered from a flaring inferno hidden behind the base. Saix felt like the fire was real, like opening a heated oven on a hot summer day, stepping barefooted onto a stove hot stone path. Except he could feel the heat inside him. The inferno was centered on a huge sphere of fire, spewing and spiralling outwards amongst the shards of green. Suddenly the twisting flares sprung forward shattering any green in the way, straight at Saix._

_In reflex he shielded the side of his face as he turned away with his arms futilely; he could still the sweltering heat tearing at him from inside._

_Thunck. A vibration on the ground beside him. Slowly the fire faded from inside. Removing his arms slowly, Saix looked towards his side, seeing Axel leaned over with his spiky red hair resting on his arms, on the ground. He could hear Axel's breath coming out heavily._

_Axel didn't move. Cautiously, Saix sat up, getting on his knees, and approached Axel. He raised his arms up to Axel but then halted as the dreaded thought enter his mind. Was Axel trying to kill him? His hands were sweating terribly in his gloves, knees weak. He imagined his heart would have been clenching in unbearable restraining fear and was glad for once he actually didn't have a heart. _

_Swallowing what could be his last breath, his hands touched Axel's shoulders… _

Berserker Axel, Saix called it, after learning what it was, was something he never wanted to see. Ever. Saix suspected that Axel felt the same way about him. He wondered what caused Axel to become berserk. For himself, it was exactly as Zexion had stated. Which now that Saix thought about it, it was as if Zexion already knew. He knew that he was given the title Lunar Diviner by Xemnas. Again it came back to how much Xemnas knew.

Saix closed his eyes. Lexaeus was probably in charge of testing out the Lunar Diviner's abilities. Saix sighed and heard the scratching of Zexion's pen. Saix couldn't remember what Lexaeus had said to him, blurring too much with the memory that arose from his berserker state...

_Moonlight spilled onto Isa's desk as he set up his new telescope, taking care not to break any parts. It wasn't a fancy model of any sort, but after all the trouble Lea had gone through to get it to him tonight, Isa didn't want to break it. Lea insisted that the sky wasn't visible enough to until tonight. "Where's the point in giving you a present if you can't use it right away? You would be so excited, but then disappointed that you couldn't use it for another week!" Isa said that wasn't the point, and Lea smiled back sheepishly, apologizing. Isa could imagine Lea staring at the night sky each night after Christmas, waiting for the clouds to leave so he could give Isa his present. _

_He placed the telescope in its stand as heard his mother enter his room. "Hope you don't want any of this," Isa turned to face her as she swirled the liquid around in the green bottle she held. Under her arm she had a rolled up newspaper. "You're still too young."_

"_I know." Isa wasn't interested in drinking anyways. He figured he would if he wanted to when he was old enough. He still had about ten years and he wasn't planning on dying before then. "I'm fine."_

"_What are ya doing?" She walked into his room, getting a better look as Isa hesitantly moved aside to let her see. "What's that?"_

"_My Christmas present from Lea." Isa answered simply. He didn't want her to stay around. Please, he thought, please go._

"_So he didn't forget! I thought you were going to drown yourself in such sorrow." She laughed. Isa flinched. Partially at the memory, and partially from his mother's laughter. Even though Lea had good intentions, he was still hurt that Lea hadn't gotten him a gift on that day. Lea had scratched his head, looked away, saying, it was taking longer than he thought. He was lying, but Isa was too hurt to find out._

_He hoped she would leave soon in peace. Sometimes she would not care and go elsewhere, while other times she would pursue it. Just in case, Isa walked over to his clothes he wore earlier today and grabbed a necklace. Well, it was a string with a two keys on it. He hung it around his neck and hid it under his pyjama top. He turned around and saw his mother standing beside his telescope. His heart clutched. Please. Please don't…_

"_You're not thinking of going to the moon again, right?" his mother asked as she tapped his telescope. His heart thudded harder. They had had this conversation before. She forbade any thoughts about going to the moon or travelling outside of their world. What became a thought could turn into spoken words, which would lead to actions. She believed such travels would end a 'promising life' that he had._

"_No, I'm just looking." While it might be cool to actually go to the moon, he knew right now it wouldn't be possible. Maybe if he worked in the research facility at the castle he could. But that was only if he was good enough to be accepted._

"_You know Isa," her voice began sweetly, as she put down the newspaper on the edge of his desk and picked up the telescope with one hand. They both watched it teeter dangerously in her hand, "sometimes giving into your…desires…is rather dangerous. You're not thinking of going to that damned castle to study and build those blasted ships are you?" She turned her hazy eyes towards him._

_His heart beat faster ramming against his rib cage creating strain. She saw right through his thoughts again. He couldn't lie and most certainly not to her. His mother was just as good as reading people's eyes as he was. The haze thinned._

"_Isa…" Her voice hissed. "You are aren't you? And this…thing, isn't helping, isn't it?" She yelled, "It's just encouraging you!" She lifted her arm holding the telescope up, ready to throw it down-_

"_No!" Isa cried out, catching her arm with one hand, while catching the telescope with the other as she let go._

"_Let go of me!" She shrieked as __she swung the bottle down, clipping Isa on the arm. He shut his eyes. He felt the alcohol burn on his skin, soaking through his pyjamas._

Her voice continued to ring in his head. Strangely enough during the battle with Lexaeus, he could actually hear her voice. Specifically, during the parts when everything was a blur. He felt that he had fought with everything he had to destroy whatever was in front of him. Flitting through the memory again, he realized that same fixation he had was no different than her when she drunk that night. He thought he was acting on his own memories. While they weren't her memories, he could feel what she felt instead. He rolled his head against the window. He didn't know what was going on.

Instead of dwelling on it Saix watched the fire on Axel's chakrams as it danced along the rings and spikes, like children around the central statue in festival. Playful. He was having difficultly keeping the flames going as Xaldin kept putting them back out. Axel danced around Xaldin in attempts to avoid the wind and trying to land a blow. Neither was successful and at one point Axel almost slipped from something on the ground. Axel didn't look down to see what it was as he had to move immediately after regaining balance from Xaldin's spears. When Axel moved away Saix was able to see strands of light blue littered on the ground. He frowned as he realized it was the same shade as his hair.

He leaned forward and was about to look at his hair when he caught Axel taking on a different stance. Axel held his arms out in front of him. From where the centers of the chakrams where his hands were a line of flame jumped out and connected them. The line spun around forming a huge sphere of fire.

That's when Saix smelt something odd about the fire. The smell from the smoke was burnt. Like charred toasted creations that would sometimes find its way in Lea's home. However, that wasn't the strongest memory Saix had of the smell.

_He smelt it before he opened his eyes. The smoke was burnt. Charred. He opened his eyes to Darkness and seeing a face with, green eyes and red hair in front of him. He was in his arms. "L-Lea..?"_

_He startled his friend. "I-Isa?" His green eyes travelled from his eyes to the rest of his face. What happened? Where had the smoke come from?_

_"You weren't…cooking were you?" he said. He didn't even know where the question came from but where else could the smell have come from? For a moment the green eyes were puzzled, then shifting to hesitant. The fire in his eyes swirling about suspiciously. Then he could tell. The smell came from his friend. _

_In response to the fire, Xaldin had summoned more spears, extra ones swirling around him in the air. There was a total of six spears, all identical to each other. Axel tried to mimic him by summoning spheres of fire to swirl around him in addition to the large on he already had. He made too many causing him to lose control over the fire and they wisped out, leaving Xaldin mocking him with laughter. Axel growled and leapt into the swirling lances, encasing his chakrams in fire instead._

Axel chipped himself, small pieces of grey and black leaking out, but was able to land a blow on Xaldin finally.

OoooooO

Axel's battle ended rather peacefully compared to Saix's. Zexion seemed satisfied with both results despite Axel claiming he had more to show and dismissed them for the day. Luckily Lexaeus, Xaldin and Zexion left first, allowing Axel to take Saix to his room without anyone watching. Once there Axel led Saix to his mirror stuffed in the corner in the room. There it was easy to see the cross shaped scar that had formed between his eyes. Saix stared at the unusual mark on his face before remembering about his hair and the strands on the floor. He pulled out the rest of his hair that had remained beneath his coat. He pulled his hair in front of his and noted the difference in length was about the length of his hand.

Axel stood beside him and shrugged. "It'll grow back. Unless you like the new length. Then you could cut the rest…" Saix caught Axel's frown in the mirror. "I wasn't paying attention as to when your hair got caught…I mean it could have happened anytime…"

Saix wasn't concerned about the hair as he flung it back over his shoulder hitting Axel on the way. Axel stepped away as Saix asked "So then, when did I get this during the battle?" He knew it had to be when he went berserk. He leaned closer to the mirror and was able to see the jagged lines of the scar on his face.

"When you turned berserk." Axel walked out of the mirror's reflection. Saix heard him sit down on his bed.

Saix sighed, "I figured that out. That's the only part I don't remember." Clearly. His suspicions hardly made any sense to him but he forced himself to keep his face expressionless, focusing on his scar in the reflection and emptied his mind.

"I don't know…it was there when I knocked you down." Axel said. He didn't question further about his berserk phase. The same tactic worked again. It worked a few days ago. Well, he was only hiding information about Vexen, but…if he could fool Axel, who could read him easily, then he shouldn't have any trouble fooling Xemnas.

Saix turned to Axel and saw Axel wasn't even looking at him. Saix bit on his lip in slight annoyance that his 'experiment' wasn't valid. Before having Axel taking notice Saix said, "Thank you…for bringing me back. Zexion told me that if you hadn't…" He stopped when Axel finally turned to him.

Axel smiled. "Well, I couldn't have us falling at something simple like that. Besides, saving you seems to be my job." His smile faded suddenly.

"Your job?" Saix asked suspiciously when Axel didn't continue. Was this something he didn't remember or something Axel wasn't telling him?

"Well, yeah." Axel said uneasily. Saix found it strange that Axel wasn't boasting. "Like…when you were hurt by the Darkness and I tried to save you…"

"You mean when Xemnas found us? I do recall being attacked before then. I guess that means you fought it off by yourself." Saix concluded. Was Axel unsure that he wouldn't believe him? Or remember?

Axel's eyes brightened. "Well of course! What else were you expecting?" A sturdy, fire was burning. No flickering. Nothing.

"What were you expecting me to say?" Saix decided to challenge the question head on.

Axel paused. He scratched his head. "I don't know actually. My memory is rather foggy, and I imagine yours is too. I didn't know what one might remember that the other doesn't…" The flame flickered. Saix was right about Axel's doubts.

Saix leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He debated a moment about bringing up Xemnas and Zexion's knowledge about his title but at this point it would be conjecture. If there he could find some sort of proof to support it better then he would talk with Axel.

There was one thing that bothered Saix's mind. He had lied to Axel. It was minor, so maybe that's why Axel didn't bother picking at him. He could recall previous times when Isa had lied over something small that Lea would sometimes give a know-it-all-grin and not challenge Isa. The grin would upset him, making him slightly uneasy and a bit guilty. Now however, he didn't feel uneasy or guilty. He knew in theory it was because he didn't have a heart that he shouldn't feel something, but shouldn't he at least feel a little something for lying to Axel? He was much like Lea, so why not?

He was exhausted. Perhaps he was just too tired to care.

OooooooO

'_I don't know…it was there when I knocked you down.'_

Saix was too busy focusing on his scar to notice Axel's lie. After examining his memories more carefully, Axel was certain that he had inflicted the scar, as much as he didn't want to admit it. He recalled vaguely that Saix had covered part of his face, but also looked away at the same time. There was still a space where he could have cut him. The weapon had already vanished by then he was sure, because he hadn't hurt Saix any further. But then Saix's arms weren't cut at all. Perhaps the coats were more durable than he had thought. Axel recalled from when Saix went berserk, there where massive shockwaves from the impacts created. Therefore, it was possible that as Axel was swinging down at Saix, a shockwave had created that cut. There was no way of knowing...

"Thank you…for bringing me back. Zexion told me that if you hadn't…" Axel turned from his thoughts, finding Saix facing him.

Axel smiled. "Well, I couldn't have us failing at something simple like that. Besides, saving you seems to be my job." Axel began to list off the times. From staying berserk, saving him from that Heartless, the consuming Darkness…Axel halted his thoughts and felt his smile fade. Consuming…

"Your job?" Was there another time? A voice echoed in his head as he recalled a day with the morning sun rising…

"_You can't take this blindfold off of him until he can see light through it." A voice spoke from a face Lea didn't recognize._

"Well, yeah." Axel said uneasily. Who was that man? He couldn't picture his face properly. "Like…when you were hurt by the Darkness and I tried to save you…" Axel chose to be vague about it and see what Saix could remember. Maybe Saix knew of this other instance?

"_Can't he see through it anyways?" Lea said angrily, "I mean I know you can see light through blind-"_

"_This one is special," the man's voice answered patiently. He continued with sorrow lingering in his voice, "Your friend, Isa, has regretfully come into contact with Darkness and any exposure to light could possibly destroy him." Lea's heart constricted painfully. Was he serious? "Until he has recovered from the Darkness, he must keep this on. When he can begin to see light through it, it will show that he is recovering. When that happens, come see me and I'll let you know what needs to be done next."_

"You mean when Xemnas found us? I do recall being attacked before then. I guess that means you fought it off." Axel blinked. At least Axel knew that memory.

Axel decided prod the topic further. "Well of course! What else were you expecting?" Maybe Saix remembered something else. Unfortunately Saix was confused and focused on Axel's eyes. Axel could already tell he had no clue.

"What were you expecting me to say?" Axel felt slightly disappointed that Saix didn't know. Maybe that meant it never happened.

Axel decided there wasn't a point in telling him something he couldn't remember. He scratched his head. "I don't know actually. My memory is rather foggy, and I imagine yours is too. I didn't know what one might remember that the other doesn't…" It was the truth. He just left out the evidence of it.

Saix leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He was silent. He must be tired from everything that happened today. There was just one thing Axel had to ask.

"Did Xemnas mention anything about assigning titles at all when he met with you? I mean, no one should have known about the effect of the moon on you." He needed to know just how Xemnas figured it out.

Saix opened an eye and wearily looked at Axel. He mulled something over before speaking. "Not in any detail. He said it was because of my clothes and you telling him that I found the moon quite interesting." He lazily closed his eye.

"Oh…I remember that." He said more to himself than Saix. It was the same memory of Darkness they both shared. He tried to remember that other memory, but only those words played through his mind again. Nothing new. Axel gave up on that memory and was sure that Saix would fall asleep standing if he stayed like that any longer. "Saix." Saix opened an eye again. Axel patted the bed. "Come sit. You're worn out. Why don't you…stay here tonight?" Axel didn't really know what he was saying. He didn't regret asking. Like old times…

Saix finally opened his other eye. He pushed himself off the wall. "No, I'll go back. There's work that needs to be done." Axel doubted that any work would get done tonight. Saix said his work was just reading at this point anyways. He began to walk out of his room. He paused at the doorway, hand resting uncertainly on the frame. "I'll...talk with you tomorrow, if I can."

'If I can'? Axel frowned at those words. "Yeah, sure." Axel wasn't sure what else they could talk about without any proof. Like with Lexaeus, Xaldin, Zexion and Xemnas.

Saix clarified. "I don't know how busy tomorrow will be. You have further training, and I'll be doing further reading and…" Axel nodded, cutting Saix off. Axel doubted he would be seeing Saix tomorrow given what rest Saix needed and the readings he had. Saix walked out of the room. "Get some rest."

"Good night to you too," Axel muttered. So in the end he didn't talk about the scheming that happened today. Maybe he should have, but all Axel had was the words from Xaldin and Lexaeus, and the mutterings from Zexion. Axel felt ill intent from Xaldin, but it was just a 'feeling'. Not one of them had done anything to harm Saix, only pushed him further than they should. Or expected.

Axel laid down on his bed. Lying. Saix wasn't able to pick up on it. Of course, Saix wasn't watching Axel's eyes when he lied. Usually though, when he lied like that, hiding something that could be important, there would be some guilt or a feeling that he would have to make it up to him. Perhaps, without hearts, the minor feelings couldn't reach them. Perhaps it was big things like fear that Axel knew he felt today, no matter what anyone else believed, could only be felt. Small feelings couldn't be felt because…

Axel didn't know, but it made sense to him. It had to. He turned over and faced the open window. Just as he was drifting off to sleep he remembered he hadn't asked about the cause of going berserk. He yawned and decided he would clarify the matter of whether it was the moon or the weapon when he next spoke to Saix.

OooooooO

A/N: Science-y note: When Axel is talking about colour blindness, a common form is not being able to tell the difference between red and green. More common in males than females. When Isa is talking about colours, I shortened it because I didn't want it to go on and on. You can look up the explanation if you want more info. I think you get the picture though.

-Vexen's little corner in the office. He has a lab where he does his experiments, and his room has a desk he can use to write on too. But if Vexen needed references for his research, he would have to go get it. So why waste all that energy to go back and forth between his room and the office when he can just work in there? He may not get a desk but the chair isn't bad. Of course, Xemnas doesn't allow experiments in his office. Vexen has to go to the lab for that. Right now Vexen doesn't have much of a…fear of Xemnas since the group is so small. Zexion was the other choice, because he has a higher ranking than Vexen.

-Saix's berserk mode. I know ideally the moon should be out, but as long as he thinks of the moon, there shouldn't be a problem. Besides, Kingdom Hearts didn't appear until day 94 for when Roxas was there.


	3. Suspicion

_If you've read the second chapter before July 12, 2010, when chapter three was posted, there has been some editing from the second break downwards in chapter two. The content is the same, just changed some wording and added/changed descriptions. You will still understand this chapter as long as you've read the previous one at some point. I'm sorry for any inconvenience it may cause._

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but here's chapter three! (Don't blame art, it's awesome. Especially when it's Saix related. *hides*)

An~yways, I think is Xigbar okay. He's not how he is in Days. Nor is he really Braig. Yeah.

I have nothing else to say but enjoy the long read~ (I hope it isn't too long...)

_Disclaimer: Do not own._

When You Are Empty, There Is Only…

SUSPICION

OooooooO

It was after another day of training that Axel found himself wandering the castle. It was the Organization's rule that a member was not to leave the castle unless assigned a mission though Axel doubted it applied to all the members. Training left him tired so he didn't feel like going out anyways. There wasn't anyone to talk to other than Saix, and he had been busy with the paper work Xemnas had kindly dumped on him. So unless he found out something of interest to inform Saix, he stayed away to avoid raising further suspicion. Axel was aware that the last incident, the battle Saix had against Lexaeus, still had some points to support their past friendship, but he hoped that it wouldn't linger in their minds too long. Perhaps if Axel could appear to distance himself from Saix, then maybe they might eventually forget about it.

Xaldin was showing promise in that regard. He never teased him about the day other than relating to Axel's undeveloped skills. All he cared about now was increasing Axel's skill as rapidly as possible. It was a tiring pace that Axel found it difficult to keep up with. Compared to the other times he had seen Xaldin, this was the time he looked alive, enjoying what he was doing, even if he was the only one. Training others in combat was probably something Xaldin did as a human. Or maybe it was something he wanted to do.

It was from Xaldin he learned that food was no longer mandatory for their form. As long as they rested in some way each day, like sleeping, it would help recover their bodies. Food was just another way of recovering energy. What mattered was that the member stayed in the castle because it would help repair their bodies from daily exhaustion. The more they stayed in the realm of nothing, where this castle was, the more they could recover. It took Axel a while to notice, but it was the walls that provided the lighting for the castle. During the day the walls of the rooms would be lighter. At night, they would turn a dark grey.

In a way the castle itself was alive. A non living thing was given life. Life which it shouldn't have. Just like the existence they weren't allowed. Yet, they were still here. They could still feel things physically. Pain, exhaustion, gaining strength from training, he could feel all of that. It felt real. But they weren't really existing anything emotionally, were they? Much like how their names were now. Rearranging the letters, adding an X...a subtle reminder of who they once were, and at the same time being something completely different. What was wrong with keeping the same name they once had? Did Xemnas want them to forget who they were? What was the point if the goal was to become complete?

With this extra time that he would usually hang out with Isa, he had more time just to think and time to find those hidden rooms. Xemnas' office, the library, the basement levels, and many more. Axel wondered if the reason he couldn't find it was because it was a Corridor only location, just like the room with all those high chairs where he and Saix were brought into the Organization. Corridors could only be created if the Nobody knew the location of where it was going to be created. It wasn't just visualizing what the room looked like, but there was the actual location, almost like it was placed on a grid fixed into a Nobody's mind. It was a strange feeling, but it was something Axel was getting used to as he practised moving about the castle using Corridors. The issue of lack of colour or finding the architect slowly became less interesting as he continued his search. He found the almost childish concern die away.

What bothered him now was how the castle was designed. Saix had said it was in the basement of the castle where the scientists did their experiments. Despite that he not find the labs in any of basement levels of the towers. The castle had the main tower, or the core as Axel would refer to it, with several towers connected to it. As far as Axel could tell, he was going as far down every tower he could go.

It was one day when he had given up looking for it, did he find it. In one of the larger side towers he was going up the stairs to a higher floor. After walking around the floor he realized there was an extra set of stairs leading downwards, different from the ones he had come up on. Curious, he went down them and immediately noticed how new it looked. Most walkways were rarely used, but these looked like no one had used them. The hallway spiralled down around the tower, walls slowly fading to a darker grey and eventually coming to an end with a door. Axel had to throw his weight against it to open, causing the door to slam against the wall of the new room. Axel flinched at the echoing sound and waited for a response. When nothing happened, he stepped out into the new room.

The new room Axel had found wasn't a room, but a set of three branching hallways. One went straight ahead of him, and the one to his left curved off to what Axel assumed would wrap around the tower. The one on his right also curved off but went downwards as well. These hallways were darker, only brightening near an entrance to a room. There were no windows along the curving paths. It was when he came across a lab did he realize he was in the basement levels where the scientists dwelled. Unless, there were other labs hidden in the other towers. Still, Axel moved quietly, not wanting alert any Nobody that might be here.

Aside from small lab rooms, he found storerooms that contained flasks, cords, needles, and other objects that Axel wondered what they were experimenting on or from things they used to. There was one room that caught his interest that contained a large computer. It had a main monitor and two side ones. He approached it slowly, entering the dull red light provided by the main monitor. The main screen had an image of a red lock on it. In the black keyhole there was a blinking line to show where he could type text in. He didn't dare type anything in case it would set off an alarm. Unable to gather anything here, Axel left the room.

There was one more room down the hallway Axel was going to check out before he stopped for today. As Axel approached the last doorway he slowed his footsteps, hardly leaving a whisper of sound. This time as he came closer, he heard voices.

A cracking voice came, "Xemnas, this isn't a good idea." The voice was loud enough to hear, only Axel had to listen carefully to make out the words. He pressed himself against the wall right beside the doorframe. He looked above and saw a label with 'IV' written perfectly straight, clear and clean. It was Vexen's lab.

"Damn right it isn't." Vexen's bitter voice came clearly. Axel didn't dare peek into the room, in case the doorway was in Vexen's line of sight.

Another crackling voice, this time Axel recognized it was Xemnas' dull tone. "There will be no harm to come from this. If it doesn't work then we'll exterminate him." Axel tensed from Xemnas' words, as it was only a small possibility it didn't refer to him or Saix. Judging from the quality of the voices, Xemnas was talking with another Nobody elsewhere, and Vexen was eavesdropping.

The first voice spoke, "Why are you bothering? We can't allow just anyone into our circle!" He recognized it as Zexion's voice. They were talking about Saix. It now seemed less likely it was a kind of trap as he could see the sudden invitation of Saix joining wasn't a group decision. "Surely between us four, can't we run the administrative positions? We don't need an outsider-"

"Zexion." Xemnas said calmly and quietly. "You know that won't be possible." Axel heard Vexen shuffle around. Suddenly the voices got a bit louder. "You and Vexen are researchers, both pursuing important tasks. You know Xigbar, he won't be helping us. While I could handle designing plans for the Organization, there are other things I need to pursue. I do not have the time to hand out roles to other members."

Axel had hoped for Xemnas to expand on the 'other things' he had mentioned, but unfortunately neither Xemnas nor Zexion said any more on that. Zexion must already know. What didn't make sense was Xemnas' plans for Saix. To what members was Saix suppose to 'hand out roles' to? There was himself, but what was the point? Xaldin and Lexaeus weren't mentioned, but he couldn't see them taking any orders from Saix seriously. As for Xigbar, Axel wasn't sure what to think of him. He hadn't dealt much with him at all.

As the Organization is now, there isn't much for Saix to be ordering around. Which meant that...Xemnas was looking to expand. Or he was looking at the possibility. Zexion asked the question on Axel's mind quietly. "How large is this Organization suppose to get, Xemnas?"

"Depending on what the worlds have to offer as they fall," Xemnas spoke as if calculating, "but I believe double the original size would suffice."

Axel took take a sharp intake of breath as Vexen cried out "Double?" Axel was startled, almost forgetting he was there. Vexen muttered quietly "What would he need twelve members for?" A total of twelve, meaning there was six original members. He agreed with Vexen. Why was there a certain amount he was looking for?

"Do you trust them?" Zexion spoke again, a warning creeping into his tone. "It has been a while since any of us had seen a Nobody that could take on a form like we have. Most people who fall to Darkness are not strong enough. They had strong wills too. Don't forget that."

Xemnas let out a dry laugh, making his stomach turn over. "Do what your instincts desire, Zexion. They will not harm us because like all of us, they only want their hearts back. We're going to need more to complete our goal. Regaining what we lost will not be a pleasant walk. Now Zexion, about that report you wrote up..."

Vexen seemed not to care about the rest of Xemnas' speech as he had turned off the device. Quietly Axel let go of the breath he was holding. So everyone but him and Saix knew each other. Whether they all knew each other as humans or they banded together as Nobodies about the same time, it didn't matter. If they could get one onto their side, they would have a major advantage.

He heard the swirling sound of a Corridor opening inside the room. Footsteps and Zexion's voice followed. "I still think this move is a mistake. At least, it's far too early."

"It seems what little memories he retained he seems intent on holding onto them." Vexen muttered. "Perhaps they mean something to him, but we're better off holding onto the ones as Nobodies." Axel frowned. So then, Zexion spoke with Xemnas and had Vexen listen in. But couldn't have Vexen went as well? "What about this expansion? This is the first I've heard about it."

"He won't care about the new members," Zexion replied. Axel heard a click. "He's just looking for that Key. The tool for regaining our hearts and..." Zexion trailed off. "Someone's there." He shuffled closer towards the doorway. Axel tensed. He couldn't run, it would make too much sound. If he slunk away, he wouldn't get away quick enough. And a Corridor would make-

"Don't bother. Whoever else you might you think it is, it's not. It's Xigbar." Vexen said coldly and Zexion stopped. "After all, he's the only one who knows where this lab is that would eavesdrop."

"Yes," Zexion said more to himself, "He does like to eavesdrop doesn't he?" Then he addressed Vexen, "You don't think it's the newcomers, do you?"

"Pah. Even though Xemnas seems keen on bringing number VII into his 'circle' he hasn't sent him to this lab. Yet." Vexen spat out the last word. "In another words, it's still safe here."

Zexion moved away from the doorway. Axel relaxed and slowly inched away. "We don't need to worry about them now. Besides, Xemnas wanted you to report in on your results before-"

"Yes, yes," Vexen said angrily, "it was too simple of a task. I'll go now..." Axel heard him shuffling some papers before a Corridor opened up. Axel decided he should be going too.

He heard faint murmurings from the room fading away. Axel only dared to open a Corridor once he had turned into an empty room. He needed to find Saix, but not yet. If Zexion still suspected him or Saix listening, then he would probably keep an eye on Saix, who was easier to keep track of. He chose to go to the city below the castle. He had been there a few times for training. He would stay out there for a bit before heading back into the castle.

As he travelled through the Corridor he felt a bit of a stronger pull coming from the Darkness. Axel ignored it and when he appeared in the city below the castle he remembered the incident from Saix's training with Lexaeus. Since then Lexaeus was quiet, hardly speaking to anyone, no where as expressive as before. Then again, Lexaeus' title was the Silent Hero. It only made him wonder why that day he was different. Were they against the decision as well? Was that their way of showing it?

Aside from it not being a group decision for Saix, Axel felt more relieved that the group already had rifts growing in it. Vexen didn't go with Zexion to talk with Xemnas was one. To eavesdrop, well, Axel being one, but Vexen listening on their conversation, especially since Zexion was in on it? No wonder why they could trust newcomers if they couldn't even trust their own circle. Their own leader. It wasn't just some kind of suspicion he and Saix felt.

At least Xemnas had put some kind of trust in Saix. Was it really the scolding he gave? It couldn't be something as simple as that. There had to be more. If Xemnas didn't trust Saix, then he didn't tell Zexion. This also meant that as close as these members were now, there were still things Xemnas didn't tell them.

OoooooO

"_Heartless experiment log 204_." Saix read the title of the crumpled and poorly sewn thick log. Holes were put into the sides of the paper and a durable string tied it together. Saix would have thought a metal or plastic ring would have been more stable, like the rings Zexion used to bind his logs. It was Vexen's writing, always legible, even if the writing was rather old fashioned if his memory served correctly. Zexion's handwriting was fairly neat which Saix was thankful for as he had seen how horrible his writing could be from rough drafts. Below the title the long tilted handwriting continued. "_Beginning of combining living creatures and darkness,"_ Saix muttered as he flipped open the log randomly, scanning the charts but not looking for anything in particular as he leaned back against the bookcase behind him.

He had not expected to be left alone for so long after the his battle against Lexaeus. Zexion must have been satisfied, no matter how out of the blue the results were, leaving Saix alone for well over a week, almost reaching two. The promised training Zexion had spoke of never came. Axel had been on a fairly tight training schedule while he had been given more freedom. He had only seen Axel briefly, and it was always with Xaldin around. Axel was getting trained for more combat from Xaldin since their styles were the closest in similarity, both using multiple weapons with magic to support them. Neither Axel nor Xaldin said a word about his own training which Saix didn't care about it. Being trained by either Lexaeus or Xaldin was not something he looked forward to.

During that time Saix had resumed his task of learning anything he could about the Organization. He started in the library which Zexion had shown him. There were summaries of the results from experiments put into proper reports, usually written by Zexion or Xemnas. They contained direction and theories of the results. What should be tested next, what should be looked further into. All experiments related to either the heart or Darkness. There were also the actual logs of the experiments of the two scientists – Vexen and Zexion, which Saix was currently going through and organizing the files. After writing them they would shove them neatly but disorderedly onto the shelves. The library was like what anyone would expect. Shelves, books, narrow pathways between bookcases. The room wasn't terribly large, about two to three times the size of Xemnas' office without windows or tables. This library was designed to hold the documents, not for sitting and reading. There were plenty of other rooms for that.

Compared to some of Vexen's questionable writing, the diagrams he drew were surprising clear. Most of the diagrams in this log were either of quick sketches of unstable experiments showing the Darkness either pouring out of the subject until it vanished or a detailed drawing of the subject being frozen in ice so Vexen could sketch it. Below any diagrams of frozen Heartless Vexen would indicate any unique qualities of the Heartless before 'storing it away' to an unmentioned location. Occasionally the frozen Heartless would be in an aggressive pose, sometimes appearing as if it was ready to attack. For those, Vexen would write it was destroyed, showing aggression to those without hearts, creating a threat to the Nobodies.

Another part that caught his interest was the materials list. Darkness was expected, as well as the living creatures. Sometimes animals or plants were listed. However, a few entries contained humans as the living creature which a very small part of him stirred. These results were surprisingly stable most of the time. The feeling felt more like a memory, of something he once believed in but grew out of long ago. A human was an equal as another other living being Vexen could test. Again, it was the fact that he didn't care that made him uneasy. To lose what we had once cared for, his own kind...is that what it is to live without a heart? To not care for those he should?

The feeling, if Saix could even call it that, was so minor it could be easily quelled. In order to look through the rest of this log, and any other logs that dealt with humans and who knows how much worse, he would have to put it on the side. Besides, if he was to be trusted, he would have to tolerate the same things they could. He would have to suppress anything that gave away the hint of heart. Even though they didn't have hearts, acting on memories was a sign of the past, of a heart. But shouldn't acting on the heart show support of wanting one back? Saix shook his head. He would deal with these thoughts later.

Saix flipped to the back of the back of the log to read Vexen's final notes. In summary, he wanted to continue experimenting with the animals and plants because he wanted to discover their stability point. Humans he found could easily be done and could be completed with someone of 'lower intelligence'. He had lots of materials for everything but further human experiment. He knew finding more humans for experimenting shouldn't be difficult for Zexion to find.

Saix closed the log as he mulled over the contents. Vexen didn't think Zexion was on the same level as him and Zexion was not apart of these experiments based on both of their logs, yet. Zexion's logs contained experimental data as well but a lot of it was theoretical. It was uncommon of him to do the experiments himself, as he would either pick up from the results of experiments Vexen had done or gather information from other members. At times Saix would come across some of Zexion's horrendous scribbled writing along the margins of the page. After wasting some time deciphering it, Saix found it was minor personal information Zexion had jotted down. The first one Saix had decoded had to do with a favourite type of sandwich he had liked as a human. After that, Saix decided it wasn't worth his time.

From what he had gathered, Zexion was always cautious when Vexen experimented. He tended to take risks that Zexion would prefer to stay away. Zexion wasn't the only one who wrote personal messages in the margins. Vexen's logs would contain some tiny rants which gave Saix some minor insight into his thoughts. Anything that spoke of another member was negative. Xemnas was rarely written about, and when he was, it was always in what felt like a rivalry. If it was in some way like that, then Saix felt he could use Vexen in some way.

Saix put the log back onto the shelf, but this time placing it at the far right end, a place he put any logs that held more importance than others. During his time here he had noticed that hardly anyone else accessed this room. Occasionally Zexion would come to get one of Vexen's logs to theorize on it, Saix suspected, and paid Saix hardly any notice. He hadn't seen Vexen and Xemnas enter this room, but that didn't mean they didn't need to.

Aside from the experiments, he had found some further information on Kingdom Hearts. There was only one report which was written by Xemnas. There was never any specifications on what Kingdom Hearts was but it could be completed by sending hearts to it. A Keyblade was a special tool deeply connected to hearts that could accomplish the task. It could free any heart it came in contact with. Unfortunately, there weren't any records on any Keyblade bearers running around now. It was odd how Xemnas never wrote that the completion of Kingdom Hearts would return their hearts. It was a piece of information that was told by Nobodies. This lack of 'official' confirmation only reinforced his suspicions that Kingdom Hearts could do more than what everyone else said.

Axel had been spending his time training, but to Saix, it seemed like they were wasting time. They had no enemy to fight against. Would they need defend against some unforeseen, or unmentioned, threat? The only threat Saix could see would be another world's inhabitants. Was the plan to go from world to world, finding someone who could use the Keyblade to defeat the Heartless? Like the Heartless Vexen had created in his lab? To regain their own hearts, they would have to take the hearts of others. How many would they need to gather? Saix grabbed another log, flipping it open without reading the cover. He couldn't find the answers here. For now, he needed to read anything to empty his mind at the moment.

It was a few days later when a Corridor appeared in the library while he reading. Saix looked at the Corridor for a moment, wondering how Xemnas would know where he was, as Corridors require a precise location to be summoned. Not coming up with an answer on his own, he entered the Corridor. Upon entering the office he saw Vexen placing papers on Xemnas' desk, where Xemnas was sitting reading over the them. He swept his eyes to the corner Vexen was last in, finding the low seated chair piled with books and rolls of paper. Vexen and Xemnas looked up at him as he approached. Vexen quickly flipped over the papers and picked up two round pebbles that had blended with the desk and walked up to Saix.

Vexen reached out and grabbed Saix's wrist roughly, shoving the two objects into his hand. "This is for you, so you can make yourself useful," he said with distaste. He let go quickly as if Saix had a contagious disease.

Immediately Saix could feel something buzzing in his head as he opened his hand. He felt his vision blurring slightly and then focusing sharply on the two objects. The two objects were tiny white spheres with a little stud coming from each of the objects. They glowed softy against the black gloves. He picked one up in his other hand, examining it closer. He heard a muffled voice nearby but paid it no mind. He noted that there were little dents and dips in white pebble. He looked back at the other one in his palm and saw it was covered in the same gorges. The single glowing white pebble against the black glove...

_Tonight the moon was perfectly round. It hung larger in the night sky than usual, announcing its presence to the people below it. Even without a telescope, the the __craters on the moon were easily visible. The glow covered the streets below, mixing with the streetlights._

Saix felt a swift whack on his head and turned around to Vexen who had his hand raised. His eyes were narrowed in impatience. "Pay attention! Xemnas asked you a question! You don't ignore questions from-"

"Vexen," Xemnas cut Vexen off calmly, "the reason he didn't answer is enough proof that it will work." Vexen turned away from Saix. Xemnas' tone was gentle though his face and eyes were blank. "Saix, I heard of your unusual strength from Zexion's report. He was able to hypothesize the source of your power from that one battle, which was quite amazing. Those earrings are a new creation from Vexen which imitates the moon. By wearing those you will be able to have access to the moon's power anytime. You would not be limited to night time to summon its power." For a moment Xemnas' eyes glowed. Saix didn't know if this place truly had a day and night, but these earrings would be useful in places that did have days and nights. But didn't he and Zexion agree that it was imagining the moon that summoned his...power? Or would an actual moon make it stronger?

"Lunar Diviner," Saix said slowly, preparing his words carefully, "is a title I've heard to prove, not earn. It is most unusual to know of one's potential beforehand." Last time he had asked, it was a fancy title. After the battle, there was something off.

Vexen interjected, "You asked this last time and you still don't understand? Xemnas," he turned towards him, "do we really need a Nobody who is infuriating among us?"

"Right now," Saix continued unfazed by Vexen, "there is evidence of to support this title. But before, it would have been based on conjecture. I would find that unlikely, sir." He knew that revisiting the topic would be dangerous. Now was the time to go back at it, but he needed to be careful.

Vexen was about to reply when Xemnas beat him to it, "Everything," Xemnas spoke slowly, "is predetermined." Vexen clamped his mouth shut, watching Xemnas. "I saw what you had to offer the Organization, and assigned you a role." Xemnas' eyes were flat and void of any depth they held a moment ago. He was not going to speak anymore on that subject. "There is a new task that I have for you Saix. First of all, Vexen..."

Xemnas turned towards Vexen now who was still unusually still and quiet. Saix pretended to look back at the earrings in his hand as he watched out of the corner Xemnas picked up the papers that Vexen had placed on his desk when he had entered. He could feel his vision shifting again but this time he had expected it and was able to restrain the change in focus. He was free to look at the earrings without losing focus of his surroundings. His question remained unanswered, and he doubted he would ever find the answer from Xemnas.

"As much I don't think they're worth it," Vexen spoke quietly but still easy to hear as he took the papers back from Xemnas, "it would be in the Organization's interest to make similar items for increasing our success. O-Of course," Saix frowned slightly at the faltering in Vexen's voice, "it won't take long at all. It'll be done in a day. Half a day. I guarantee it."

Xemnas didn't reply at first and Saix resisted the urge to look up. Instead turned an earring over to look at the stud. It wasn't anything special as far as Saix could tell, not that he was an expert on earrings. Finally Xemnas spoke firmly and even quieter than Vexen, "It had better not take any longer that half a day. I expect they will be done before tomorrow's mission. Take a currently owned item from the others to save you the trouble of creating them and just modify them. Give them an amplification on their strong point, nothing else."

"What about number-"

"No, it won't be necessary. Just those things." Saix finally looked up, he couldn't pretend any longer. Xemnas continued without pausing, "Remember, they must be completed before-"

"Of course," Vexen cut him off as he summoned a Corridor behind him. He gave Saix one last look and stepped through it.

The moment Vexen left Xemnas walked around the desk. Saix tensed as Xemnas placed a hand on Saix's shoulder and steered him towards one of the doors in his office. Without speaking Xemnas opened the white door to show only black shadows leaking out. The office room's light faded as the shadows hazed the room. Xemnas stepped into the room, Darkness swallowing him. Saix hesitantly stepped forwards, pausing at the mouth of the Darkness. From the Darkness he could hear the slow drone of Xemnas' voice. "Use your eyes, Saix. You will be protected." Saix stepped forward and for a moment he felt the Darkness press against his body then quickly scurried away like dogs inspecting a new visitor, backing off once disinterested. Looking behind him, he saw a faint rectangular haze of light, back where the office was.

Turning towards what Saix suspected was the center of the dark room, he found he could make out shapes from the eerie green radiance emitted from the hovering monitors and keyboard from the central mass. Along the walls of the room pods were lined up, about the size of coffins, all appearing dark grey in colour. Cords, wires, cables and beams sprung from the pods, the low ceiling of the room, and the upper walls, entwining and twisting with each other, some meddling together to the central mass in the room. This central mass had a spherical base that seemed to shift its form, never having a defined shape. From the top of the changing spherical base came an iconic heart shape reaching the ceiling. The heart as far as Saix could tell from the coloured light, was lined with a reddish brown rim with the same reddish brown crossing the heart forming an 'X' with jagged lines. Xemnas stood beside the terminal, black coat looking more blue green and his eyes dull green. The shifting base reached up to his waist, jutting out a keyboard above it. In the center of the large heart shape were three monitors.

Saix approached the terminal, warily watching the shifting base. His boot caught on the ground cables but he caught himself from tripping. He then stepped carefully avoiding the wire and cables, his eyes slowly adjusting. Once when he was in front of the central mass did he look up at Xemnas who was typing away at the keyboard. Saix watched the windows on the screen open and close too quickly for his eyes to read. The only thing that did not change was symbol in the bottom right corner. It was similar to the one the monitors rested on except the colours were clearer. Black background with a deep red outline and jagged 'X'. This one however had a three spiked base. "What is this?"

"Our Organization's hopes and dreams." Xemnas answered without pause. "This is how we will gain back our hearts." The windows changed from showing text and charts to diagrams. The diagrams showed sketches and wire framed plans of a creature. The creature's design has two legs and two arms with a helmet of some sort on its head.

The base began to shift faster, before having a piece separate from the base. The piece formed the heart with the jagged lines first, then forming a shape beneath it. The shape stretched into what looked like arms and legs, finally producing a head with a silvery helmet with yellow glowing eyes beneath it. It had taken on the form of the creature in the diagram. Once fully formed it landed on the ground and danced about on its feet. It looked at Xemnas and Saix curiously then suddenly plopped itself down on the wires on the ground and sat motionless.

"Heartless always seek hearts, and if there are no hearts..." Xemnas turned to look at the motionless Heartless. Then he turned back to the machine, typing away. "This machine replicates the process of heart becoming contaminated with Darkness to become a Heartless. To differentiate Heartless created from this machine than those created naturally, an Emblem is placed on it, earning the name Emblem Heartless. Natural Heartless which do not bear the Emblem are called Pureblood Heartless and are worthless to us. The creation of the Emblem Heartless is our current priority."

"A Keyblade can release the Hearts trapped by a Heartless." Saix recalled from his readings. "So then why must we focus on Emblem Heartless rather than Pureblood Heartless?" What he had read so far hadn't differentiated between the two.

"A Keyblade destroying a Pureblood will only put the heart back into Darkness, forming more Purebloods." Xemnas turned his head towards the Heartless with his usually hollow eyes. He gestured to the motionless Emblem Heartless on the ground. "A Keyblade destroying an Emblem Heartless will release those hearts to Kingdom Hearts."

"And the Keyblade? Do we have the tool?"

"Not yet. It is another reason why we must create more Heartless. The Heartless fear the Keyblade and seek it to destroy the Keyblade bearer. Do you see now why we must create more Heartless?" Saix nodded. "Now to aid our goal," Xemnas reached into the shifting base and pulled drew from it a long rod. The black liquid like Darkness slowly fell off of it, revealing a round musty green sphere at the end of the rod. "We need someone who can summon the Heartless and guide them to other worlds to consume more hearts." Xemnas handed the rod to Saix, the Darkness fizzing off.

Beneath the Darkness the rod was made out of dark wood. The end jewel of the rod was about the size of his fist. Saix could feel Darkness emitting from the rod. He glanced at the Heartless that had formed earlier and saw it's attention focused on the rod. It got up and began to dance again, bouncing in front of Saix. "This rod controls the Heartless?"

"Indeed. Whenever anyone refers to Heartless, we mean the Emblem Heartless. This staff is a replica of the original that could not control massive amounts of Darkness. This replica allows the user to have greater control of the Darkness. However, it also invites Darkness into the user the more it is used and can become overpowering. I believe we've found someone who can use this staff without the knowledge of being used as well. Therefore the next task is to ensure that this staff get delivered to the target and the original staff is destroyed. The location has been given to Xigbar, and I would like you to inform Axel that he will be going along as well." Saix gripped the staff harder. Axel was going to go out already?

"When do they depart?" Saix asked, not missing a step at Axel's name.

"Tomorrow," Xemnas answered simply. They watched each other, trying to read the other. "Sooner the better."

Not getting anything from Xemnas, Saix eyed the Heartless reaching up to touch the staff. "The only way to create the Emblem Heartless, is through this machine, and from experiments, correct?" Saix watched the large machine shift and turn. "It's inefficient. I understand that after being created, the Emblem Heartless will seek other hearts, collecting more. But perhaps, there could be a way to make it more...portable. A machine that could release Darkness into a forest turning everything into it's path into Heartless...wouldn't that speed the process up?"

When Xemnas didn't reply right away, Saix returned his eyes back to Xemnas'. Calm swirls of gold swam around. "Amusing you should suggest that, Saix. This machine is old. Part of Vexen and Zexion's task is to develop a way to mass produce Heartless. A device like that...Perhaps I could add that to their list."

"There could still be a main machine," Saix added rather quickly for his liking. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, "But perhaps a portalble one would allow better results. I've read through some of Vexen's logs and saw one pertaining to creating Heartless from living creatures. It's a shame that the unstable results must be destroyed to prevent destruction to Nobodies. However, if it was carried out elsewhere, in another world, we could just leave it there. It could consume that world with Darkness, without harming the Organization and creating more Heartless in the process." For something that was made up on the spot, it sounded good to Saix.

Xemnas smiled, his eyes holding a swirling storm. "I like the way your mind works. We'll see what Vexen has to say, it may be possible. There's one more another task for you- creating a database. You've done some reading, so you know the topics we research. Your next task will be to compile the data into the computer. There is a Chamber, the name of these computers, that you can use."

"How many are there?"

"This Heartless machine is one. It will access data on Heartless from the one you will be using and another Chamber that the scientists will use to input their results, rather than writing logs. The one you're using is very important. The other Chambers that I've mentioned will direct their data to yours, making it the center of information for the Organization. Your task is to organize it so for other members to access it from closely monitored branches." Xemnas paused in his explanation. How kind of him, Saix thought, for allowing members access to information. "Vexen and Zexion will also have access to the information on the Chamber you're using, as it will aid their research."

Saix noted he never answered the question. He suspected there must be more. At least one, a master Chamber, one that was more superior to the one he would be using. There must be a way for Xemnas to access the information too, especially from the sounds of it that Saix would be using it most of the time. Perhaps he could find information on Kingdom Hearts there. "Understood."

"Then go and take a break. Do not forget about giving the staff to Axel tomorrow." Saix looked down at the staff, twirling it slightly. The beady eyes of the Heartless followed the orb. When he heard Xemnas' voice whisper he had to look up to watch his mouth move to confirm that he spoke. "Do you still trust him?"

Saix closed his eyes, formulating a response. He kept in mind the reason Xemnas had supplied him for why he was to be his second. Not wanting to raise suspicion he replied, "I hardly remember who he once was," he opened his eyes, focused on the Nobody in front of him, "and who he is now is no one I could care about. I only care about becoming complete." Saix summoned a Corridor, but held Xemnas' gaze. Would he buy it?

When Xemnas didn't speak, Saix turned to enter the Corridor. He saw the Heartless follow his steps into the Darkness. As he left, he heard pieces of Xemnas' voice through the Corridor, "A Nobody is different, and cannot be trusted as the original may have been. I'm ecstatic you have learned that." Once surrounded by the Darkness of the Corridor he stopped and relaxed.

How could he lie so easily? It wasn't the truth. It wasn't...

He could trust Axel. They had a friendship to keep them together. Keeping bonds is how people could get through any kind of difficult patches of life. The clanking of the Heartless' helmet drew Saix's eyes to it. He moved the orb of the staff in front of the Heartless. It reached its hand up to touch the orb. Its eyes began to glow.

"Go on," Saix muttered, "go find yourself a heart." It retracted its hand and blinked. Then it vanished into the Darkness.

Back in his room, he left the staff propped against his desk and approached the mirror. The mirror hung on the wall with a small ledge below it. Saix imagined all bedrooms contained the same basic furniture as his and Axel's did. A bed, a desk with stationary items, a closest with extra clothing, a mirror...these items were somehow deemed to be necessary. A reminder of being human.

In front of the mirror he pulled his hair back to reveal his pointed ear. He held the tip of the stud at the earlobe and paused. Didn't he need a pierce a hole to put and earring on? He frowned in annoyance as he poked the surface of the earlobe as if to test it and found it slipped through. Saix eyes widened, knowing he hadn't had his ears pierced. He took the earring out, examining his ear and found there was a small hole right where the earring went through. He checked the other ear. It was not pierced as it should be. He raised the other earring to his non pierced ear and and poked the surface, finding it slipping it through easily as the other one did. He frowned but secured it in place and put the other earring on as well. Perhaps part of their non existence allowed such strange actions.

Once they were in place he could feel something buzz lightly in his head, like in Xemnas' office, but this time it was duller. Slowly it died down leaving a strange presence around him, as if he was wrapped in a heavy blanket. He closed his eyes.

_He laid on Lea's bed with his arm__s folded on the window's sill as he buried his face into the sleeves. He had borrowed the pyjamas from Lea. They were fuzzy and soft, handmade by Lea's mom. They hid the fact that his hair was still damp, only feeling the coolness on his face where his hair dangled over it. He tilted his head up, staring at the moon and stars. It was late at night. No, it was very very early chilly morning. He didn't care that the cool air to spill into the room. _

_Isa felt Lea's weight as he clambered onto the bed and laid on top __of his back. He turned his head and saw Lea's eyes turned sleepily towards the sky. He blinked slowly a few times before grinning weakly and burrowing his head into the back Isa's borrowed pyjamas, wrapping his arms tightly around him. Isa giggled as Lea's spiky hair tickled his neck. He turned back to the night sky with a smile on his face. He closed his eyes, relaxing in the warmth._

"_Isa…" Lea mumbled into his back and he felt his smile die away."I'm really sorry. I shouldn't…I shouldn't have said that. I'm such an idiot…" Isa didn't say anything as he dug his head back into his arms as he felt the memory and the tears returning to his eyes again that night. Lea's voice wavered. "I just wished I had done something. Anything else than what I…" _

He remembered that even ten years after that night's events, recalling the memory would make him sad. But now he felt nothing as if the memory didn't belong to him, despite the pieces of that night falling one after another…

_Isa turned over in Lea's grip so that Lea was now lying on his chest. He lifted his head off the sill by propping himself on his elbows. "Lea…it's not…it's not your fault. Really. What you said…it actually helped. I wasn't expecting anything like…that." Isa twisted to his right to as best as he could and tried to reach the pillow at the end of the bed. He shifted himself, moving his head away from the sill._

_Lea halfheartedly laughed as he tightened his hug on Isa. "I…I know. Your expression…" Isa smiled as he struggled to reach the pillow. Now they were lying on the bed completely, Isa just short of reaching the pillow. The tiny laughter lasted a few moments before turning into a gloomy voice. "But really, I should have seen the glass…but more importantly, the blood. You weren't going to die from such bleeding but still…It's just not fair. Why does everything…bad have to happen to you? What did you do wrong…?" Suddenly his head shot up, causing Isa to lose balance and falling flat on the bed. Isa groaned as he landed on his one arm stretched awkwardly above his head. Lea didn't notice, as usual. "I-I mean not that I expect that you did or anything wrong or something like that!" Isa tilted his head down at Lea as he wiped away the small tears in his eyes. His lips pouted as he said quietly, "I still don't get why you have to live with her. I know she's your mom and all but...you would be better off staying here."_

_Isa brought his arm from above his head, given up on grabbing the pillow, and wrapped it around Lea instead. He felt his voice catch, thinking about the idea many times before as he spoke, preventing his voice to stay steady even though it was pointless, "You know she can be really nice Lea. Mother and father…they weren't always like this. Your mother said it was a phase, right? They'll grow out of it…" He swallowed. Isa knew she only told him that to comfort him the first few times it had happened. Sometimes he really wished he couldn't read people's eyes so easily. He slowly rubbed Lea's back as if to comfort himself._

"_Don't bother…" Lea rested his head on Isa's chest again. "I know that you know that she knows that she's lying…" Lea paused for a moment, thinking his words through. He yawned. "I'm sorry…"_

Saix opened his eyes and saw his reflection in the mirror looking back with a forgotten softness in his eyes. It quickly vanished as he tossed the memory aside, not needing to show any weakness. He didn't need a child's memory here. In this empty castle he would have to be equally as empty. If he was to get closer and earn the trust of Xemnas and those close to him, he would have to ignore his memories. Memories of emotions.

Already Xemnas didn't mind the way Saix was around him. He wasn't provoking him like Vexen. If he could be everything Xemnas could tolerate...then perhaps it would be possible. So far, it looked like that fell under the definition of being heartless. Emotionless. A Nobody, a being who lacks a heart. Therefore, heartless in nature. He would have to become like that around all the Nobodies, not caring. Even though he and Axel had discussed this earlier...it now felt real. He really had to become this. He couldn't lose all his memories. He doubted he would become lost in his heartless state that he would completely forget what his goal was. With the ghost of the image he was fighting for always nearby, it would be impossible to forget.

He looked over at the two notebooks that lay on his desk. The blue one was barely used, as there hadn't been much to write about. Nothing that he didn't want another to read, anyways. He didn't trust Xemnas' words for a moment. He didn't expect someone to be looking through it daily. No, it would if Xemnas or another Nobody distrusted him after a time. The grey one remained blank, as Saix found no point in writing draft reports in it like Xemnas had suggested. Saix walked over to the desk and opened up the blue book to the newest page. He used the pen next to the notebook to add a tick to the ten ticks on the first line on the page. Each tick represented a day he chose not to write in the book. A day he chose to write an entry he would circle the ticks to indicate how many days had passed between entries. He had no other way of keeping track of time.

Saix capped the pen and opened the desk drawer, tossing the pen in. He stared at the grey notebook for a moment before tossing it in as well. There would be a use for it one day. He kicked off his boots, not bothering with his coat or gloves as he laid down on his bed and faced the staff. Slowly as he drifted off to sleep he felt his hands wrap around the pillow beneath his head.

___Absentmindedly Isa stopped rubbing Lea's back and began twirling his fingers around his spiked strands of hair. Isa stared up at the ceiling, listening to Lea's breathing as he fell asleep._

_He had gone home the following evening. She hadn't apologized for the destruction she caused. In fact, she ignored the matter all together. All the pieces were cleaned up from the front lawn by the time he came home._

OooooooO

The next morning Axel went down to the central room where he would meet Xaldin for training. This morning he found Xigbar and Saix talking in the room. When he entered, Xigbar called him over, waving a staff with a green orb on top. Axel's eyes flickered over to Saix's briefly, silently greeting each other, before returning to Xigbar.

"Ready to embark on your first mission?" Xigbar welcomed Axel.

"I guess," Axel replied, "What is it?" Were they finally going to do something other than training?

"Delivery." Xigbar answered and Axel felt disappointed. It was a change from training but... "Come on little Pyro, I'll show you the guidelines on how missions will be done. Course, there may may be some fixing that may need to be done, but we'll test run it."

Axel scratched his head, frowning at the nickname. "Delivery of the staff?" Xigbar nodded. Axel looked over at Saix. "Is that it?"

"The staff is a replication. The original must be disposed of so the replica can take its place. This replicated staff," Saix paused, calling a Heartless. It had a dark blue body with brown wings and wore goggles. The Heartless stayed near the staff and Xigbar curiously waved the staff around. The Heartless hovered near the orb of the staff and follow it as it moved. "Attracts Heartless. We will give this staff to a witch that can harness its powers, expanding the number of Heartless, and eventually leading the way to a Keyblade bearer. Xigbar is going to back you up, as you will encounter Heartless because of this staff."

"You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Xigbar teased as he tapped Axel's shoulder with the staff. Xigbar let Axel take the staff from him, frowning as the Heartless settled on his shoulder.

"No, but they are after hearts, aren't they? Why would they attack us? To take the staff away from us?" Axel looked at the Heartless then said, "Go away." It cocked its head curiously before vanishing into Darkness.

"Yes, that should be the case." Saix answered. Axel frowned. Should be the case?

A Corridor appeared and Vexen exited from it with a very small jar filled with some kind of black substance. Axel tensed as Vexen came closer, wondering if he been found out from the previous day. Vexen's eyes locked with Axel's and he felt Vexen's icy staring him down. He swallowed.

"For you," He said to Axel as he tossed a black jar at Axel like it was on fire. Axel caught it, cautiously watching Vexen. "It will amplify your ability to control fire. It's a special soot," Vexen said hurriedly as he glanced at Saix, "as promised." At this Axel gave a quick glance towards Saix, but saw that Saix made no acknowledgement to Vexen's promise, whatever it was. He heard Xigbar chuckle at which Vexen hissed at him, "And you should stop with your annoying habits!" Xigbar waved off Vexen's words as if it were smoke. "You better not break that staff. Or you," he looked at Axel.

Hesitantly Axel opened the jar. He put a gloved finger in and could tell while wearing his gloves it was some kind of jell than it was powdery like soot. "How am I supposed to use it?"

Vexen scowled, "Apply it to your skin. Face, hands, I don't care." Before Axel could say another word, Vexen spun around, turning to facing Xigbar now. He pulled something from his coat's pocket, an optional style of a coat a member can wear, and held out his hand. His face still wore an annoyed expression.

Xigbar reached out and accepted the item from Vexen. He opened his hand and two white bullets rolled on his gloved palm. Xigbar inspected them before speaking. "So you really did?"

Vexen scowled. "It's still in development. Don't use it unless you have to." Vexen's gaze was still fixed on him.

Xigbar finally caught Vexen's gaze and nodded. "It's hard to fix something that's broken and doesn't want to be fixed, right?" The bullets blurred in his hand and then disappeared from Xigbar's hand as he laughed. His eyes flicked to Axel's curious expression and then said, "Thanks for fulfilling my request. Go on, get back to work before Xemnas gets angry."

Axel saw Vexen's eyes swing over his own as well before muttering, "Do whatever you want," before vanishing into the Corridor.

The second Vexen disappeared Xigbar turned his attention to Axel and grinned. "Pyro, you can be just like me now!" He pointed to his scar. "Of course your tale won't be as grand as mine, but no one else has to know, right?" Before Axel could get a word in, Xigbar grabbed the staff from Axel and tucked the staff under his arm and then dropped his gloved finger into the jar. With the other hand he held Axel's wriggling head still as his jell-soot finger he drew one vertical line below his eyes on both sides of his checks. Then he pulled back just as Axel was ready to bat him away.

"Hey, hey-!" He stopped as he felt warmth from the spot where Xigbar had applied the soot. It spread across the surface of his cheeks before feeling the heat dig into his face and then throughout his body. The warmth settled down comfortably across his skin. He opened his palm and could almost see fire hovering above it. He pushed in his mind the image of a fiery castle, like the one in the town's center and saw a small tower of flame rise from his palm. It shifted to create castle with all of it's towers just as detailed as he could remember, the flames reflected in the same detail. Axel leaned over the small flame sculpture and breathed on it. It didn't waver one bit like he had expected it to. "Wow…" he said to himself.

"Now Pyro, this isn't the time to be digging around in memory lane." Axel looked up at Xigbar and saw he looked at it with a slight frown on his face. Axel felt a strange unease pipe up in his brain. For a moment Axel caught a far away look on Xigbar's face as if he was also caught in his memories before meeting Axel's eyes, his one eye as aware as ever.

"How do you know that I didn't make it up? I've got a great imagination."

Xigbar grinned once again as he tapped Axel's forehead, "It's got to come from somewhere. A castle that grand isn't something that can be created on the spot." Axel was about to ignore what he thought was an insult to his imagination before realized Xigbar's voice wasn't doubting his imagination. It was like a statement. A fact.

He had chosen to recreate the castle from his home because lately he had been thinking about it. Right now, they were living in a castle. While he had never rarely been in the castle from his world, he couldn't help comparing the two designs from the faintest traces of his memories. The occasional times he had been there was for rare dinner occasions that Isa had invited him to, or times they had sneaked further into the castle than usual. Only during those fancy dinner parties had he taken in the castle's interior, but was always overly decorated and dimly lit. The times when they had sneaked in they never paid much attention. Always keeping an eye out for patrolling soldiers.

Xaldin's training also reminded him of the soldier's training program he had heard many times before. It was rigorous if one wanted to be more than a a simple patrolman. The same sternness that Xaldin held for his training expectations was what he had imagined it would have been like.

Now Xigbar was commenting on his castle. It seemed that here that the memories of not only his past, but the central castle, was coming back with everything he did. A castle like that had to be one of a kind, since it had been long built before the recent ability to travel between worlds. For Xigbar to make such a comment, was it possible...Was he there the day Darkness was brought into his home?

"You say that as if you seen this castle before."

Xigbar's eye narrowed slightly causing Axel to feel cornered. He felt the fire in his palm waver. "So you say, but what does it matter?" Axel was taken aback by a strange response that even the fiery castle went out for a moment before rising up again.

"Axel." Saix's voice caused both Nobodies to turn towards him. Axel stared at him as if he had appeared out of nowhere, forgetting he was there the whole time. "Xigbar. You should head out on your mission. You can waste time chattering once your mission has been completed." His face held no emotion at all. Only his eyes held a slight alertness in them which held a slight warning in them. Saix was getting a little too good at playing this game. He felt the castle in his hands vanish.

Xigbar took the interruption to their conversation as an invitation to start their mission. "Alrightly Pyro, let's go." Xigbar grabbed the jar from Axel's hand and tossed it to Saix. "Sorry to bother you, but could you hold that for little Pyro here? I'm afraid he might lose it on his mission." Saix blinked blankly at the jar in his hands before watching Xigbar drag Axel through a Corridor.

"Whoa, wait!" Axel called out as he was pulled through the Corridor. As Xigbar vanished into the Corridor Axel turned around to see Saix watching him with a tiny smile of amusement. He felt at ease. It had been a while since he last saw Saix, let alone seeing him smile. Saix's face darkened from the surrounding Darkness as Axel was pulled in further. For a moment everything was covered in dark shades of blue and purple before dispersing into the walls of their new location.

The Corridor lead to a darkly lit hallway. It seemed that less than half of the hallway's lights worked, flicking on and off as if functioning on a faulty connection. From one direction, Axel could make out lighting, much lighter than the hallway's lights. The direction led further into the darker depths of the building. As his eyes travelled around, he noticed there were vines with thorns that wrapped around the light's rods from the wall. The vines hung down from the ceiling were parts were removed to reveal pipes criss-crossing over each other, draping down mostly along the walls, easily reaching the floor and making many piles that wove with each other. The vines were larger than what Axel had seen before, smallest ones easily reaching twice the diameter of a balled fist.

"Looks like you can't use your fire here," Xigbar warned, "Let's move without drawing attention to ourselves." He summoned a gun in his hand, holding the staff in the other. "Get your weapon out. I'll hold onto the staff."

Axel nodded. "Isn't there just Heartless here? And the witch?"

Xigbar stepped carefully on a thorny vine, slowly putting his weight on it. It crackled softly and crunched into pieces and he stepped down on it. "Hopefully. If there were people that are still alive we'll need to avoid them. They don't need to know of us. Try not to step on the vines if you can." Xigbar made his way down the hallway that led towards the lighter area, indicating for Axel to follow.

As they travelled down it the light became a light orange red and lighter. The end of the hallway led to another massive hallway that stretched out to the left and right of them. The source of the light came from the large windows that hung above them and along the hallway. From their position, they could only see the clouded evening sky. Seeing as how the hallway they were now in was covered with many of these large windows, and how it curved out of Axel's view, he guessed that the hallway that ran around the outside of this place. They mainly stayed along pathways similar to this one as they climbed up the large building. Occasionally they would have to weave deeper into the building. It was only when they had to go further away from the natural light when they might run into a dead end.

Even then, it was rare. Xigbar's guiding was going smoothly. Too smoothly.

"You seem to know where we are headed," Axel observed as he watched Xigbar briefly deciding which way to go at another branch of the hallway. They were inside one of the deeper hallways, having travelled away from the outer hallways for a while. "Have you been here before?"

Xigbar stopped and Axel saw his mouth frown slightly before turning into a grin. "Recon." A Heartless fell from the ceiling and Axel threw his chakram at it, destroying it easily. The Heartless that appeared here were not a threat, though they appeared more frequently the further they strayed from the outside hallway of the castle.

"Recon?"

"Reconnaissance." Xigbar spoke with a hint of triumph. He scanned the hallway for further Heartless. "I've been assigned recon here before. Why else do you think I would be assigned to work with you?" Axel was puzzled. What happened to the whole combat backup? Saix hadn't mentioned this. Not mentioning recon was rather unusual. Maybe on the off hand chance Saix had forgotten to mention this, seeing as Vexen had interrupted them. He would ask him later.

Axel changed topics. "So you don't have some kind of administrative position, do you? I mean, you are ranked as the second one..."

"Nope," Xigbar replied as he turned back to walking, "not for me. Numbers mean nothing. Look at Saix. It's all about impressions and choices, Pyro. I'm not interested in that stuff." Xigbar didn't show any disapproval towards Saix's rank. It was a good sign.

Axel didn't know what else to say as they turned another corner. Natural light glowed softly from the end of the hallway. Xigbar headed towards it which Axel appreciated. The twisting layers of thorns had grown thicker and covered more of the floors that it seemed impossible to walk without stepping on them. All they could do was crunch down on each piece without making too much sound.

Upon reaching the outer hallway again, Axel couldn't help but stop and watch the dusky sky. Usually sunsets or sunrises passed quickly. He felt he had been here a while, yet the sky hadn't changed at all. It a way it was comforting, as it had been a while since he could watch the sunset.

"Come on Pyro," Xigbar interrupted his thoughts, "let's get this done before the day is over." Axel faced Xigbar who was fighting a couple Heartless easily. He twirled the staff, vanishing a Heartless in the process. He whipped around, firing his gun at the ceiling. Axel heard the dissipation of a few more Heartless.

"Can't we continue this mission another day if we don't complete it today?" Axel asked out of curiosity as continued walking, not paying attention to the thorny ground anymore. It was all thorns and vines anyways. He felt a Heartless behind him so he spun quickly and threw his chakram at it. Instead of hitting a Heartless, it cut through a raised vine. Axel blinked. He was sure there was a Heartless.

"We can't return until we've been granted permission, which is given once we complete the mission." Axel slowly turned back to Xigbar who was scanning the ceiling for more Heartless. Finally, Xigbar lowered his gun. "It's one of the test run things. Don't want us to spend forever on a mission."

"How would they know when we've completed a mission?" He didn't carry any sort of communication device. Axel thought that the Organization would have something like that. Unless Xigbar had one with him.

"Who knows? Never know where a Dusk will be hiding." Axel glanced around the hallway out of instinct of the thought. He could see Xigbar was grinning as he stopped walking.

Axel muttered to himself, "Wonder if Xemnas put some kind of tracking or monitoring device in us when we became Nobodies…" Though Xemnas may have faith, for a lack of a better term, that Saix would become his loyal second or whatever, there still must be a way he was planning on making sure he wouldn't betray him. Would these 'tracking devices' be used to monitor what they were up to, besides being on a mission? Axel shuddered. If Xemnas had done that, then there wouldn't be a way for him and Saix to work together easily.

In his mind, he saw himself sleeping at night on the white bed in the castle. From the darkness Xemnas appeared. Slowly he approached, his dark skin barely visible from the shadows that formed his coat, framed by the silvery hair that was a pale ghostly glow. The two glowing yellow eyes watched his sleeping self as he stood towering over him. Xemnas leaned down and moved aside the bed sheet just enough to reveal a bare arm. From the darkness of his coat he pulled a long needle. Slowly, it was injected into his skin, a small pickle on his arm...

Xigbar's hollow laugh pulled him out of his thoughts. Subconsciously Axel rubbed the spot where he had imagined Xemnas had injected the needle into him. "Don't trust him do you?" Axel opened his mouth to reply but Xigbar continued, "Why would he? He's not the one in charge of missions. He just keeps everything in check."

The ghostly white hair dyed a darkened blue and the skin paled. The same haunting yellow eyes stayed, now with a scar between them. It would be such an easy task since Saix would know how to approach him without waking him up. Axel immediately denied such a possibility. "You mean Saix…" Axel attempted to speak steadily.

Xigbar took a step back towards Axel, seemingly enjoying their chat, "Yes, isn't he a nice fellow? I suppose he has to make sure the work is done properly because it's going to be his responsibility. Guess even friendship can't get in his way, hmm? Seems inhumane but hey, we're not even human, are we?" His mouth twisted in a grin and he leaned forward to keep his eye level with Axel's.

Axel stepped back as his mind whirled back to dark room. Saix wouldn't do that. Not to him. He shook his head slowly to clear his thoughts and looked Xigbar right back in the same glowing golden eye that Saix and Xemnas had. By ease of his memories he crafted an arrogant grin showing indifference. Would they ever stop picking at their friendship? Sure they arrived together... "You must be mistaken. Saix has never been a friend of mine. Saix is...someone I _know_."

Xigbar didn't falter as he tapped his left temple, "Oh I think there's been enough evidence. But I guess the past is behind you now, isn't it?" He was getting tired of this. What did the Nobodies know? All they had off of him and Saix was the fact that they came together, Axel knew Saix from before, saved him from destruction for being lost to the berserker...they could have just known each other from the same world and still stay with each other for company, not just because they were friends before.

Was everyone paranoid of newcomers? They wouldn't give them a chance to even prove they could be trusted. Other than Xemnas, oddly enough. This tracking device was only theoretical at this point. Xigbar didn't seem against them just...teasing them?

But there was something else that was off today. Maybe he was spending too much time around Xigbar but, if he had done recon, then why didn't they Corridor up? Surely he would know a room much closer that they could go to. He could understand not going there directly, not wanting to attract the witch's attention, but still...

"Why don't we Corridor up?" Axel broke the silence. He really wanted to get this mission over with. "You've done recon here so why don't we speed this up?"

"It's not safe." Light crunches echoed around them, both of them turning tense. The thorny vines shifted everywhere around them, moving about as if it was one big nest of snakes. Xigbar jumped up high appearing to land beside Axel but landing on an invisible plane a few feet off the ground. Axel blinked at the invisible block Xigbar had landed on as his gun disappeared, offering his hand to Axel. "Quickly. And don't let go."

Axel grabbed it and was lifted onto this invisible platform. It was flat and level just like any hard floor. He moved his hand to Xigbar's other wrist, the one holding the staff, so Xigbar could summon his gun again. Xigbar led the way moving more cautiously with his gun trained beneath them where the loudest scratching of vines was.

Axel looked out the window again and with a slightly higher viewpoint, he could see water. The ocean stretched out everywhere, bleeding into the dusky sky.

"Xigbar," he said quietly, not wanting to break his concentration, "Can you use this...ability, to move outside? Could we go up like this?" The vines were growing restless and began to pool together beneath their feet. If he could do this, why couldn't he...?

"Rather not," he said finally.

A large crackling exploded from the ceiling as the both looked to see streams of vines coming their way. Unable to move quickly, Xigbar let out rapid shots from his gun, only snipping off pieces as they were both knocked down to the ground. He lost grip of Xigbar as he tumbled on the vines, feeling the thorns scratch against his face. He quickly got up amongst the shifting thorns and vines, cutting himself a path with both chakrams. He heard the rushing of vines beside him as climbed up the vines hanging over the window. He followed their trail path, Xigbar being the target. The vines wrapped around his torso spreading to cover him completely. They held him outside of the building, beyond the ledge of the window. Before Axel could judge how to throw his chakram without hurting Xigbar, he flung the staff away from the vines and summoned his second gun, shooting the vines that reached from the building. The connecting vines snapped as Xigbar fell with pieces of vines wrapped around him. The air below him warped as he fell through the hole and disappeared.

Axel scrambled towards the ledge of the massive window and searched around wildly for Xigbar. He balanced carefully on the ledge of the window, watching the staff falling towards the raging waters below with the vines extending towards it. Waves crashed against the building and whirlpools surrounded it.

_Temperature was typically warm. All year around they had seasons, but it was moderated by the surrounding ocean. The patches of ocean that was blocked in by the extending pieces of Radiant Garden was always peaceful. Outside of Radiant Garden, the ocean surrounding it varied. Some days it was equally as quiet. Other days it could be stormy and crash against the less protected areas of Radiant Garden. Lower levels would flood, damaging homes and streets. Those who lived in less protected area would move up closer to the castle. On those days the doors to the castle would be open for temporary shelter. _

Where was the grounds for this land? He shook his head, dispelling the memory flash and the questions. The staff was priority. He took a couple steps back and then ran towards the ledge, leaping off of it and grabbing onto the vines pouring over the ledge. He felt the thorns pierce his gloves as he held onto the vines tightly. The wind blasted around him as he rode the vines closing in on the staff. Slowly he clambered down the vines, closer towards the leading ends. It caught the staff, engulfing it completely in thorns. The surrounding thorns began to blacken and grow larger.

The air beside the blackening thorns warped and purple darts shot out of it. The darts cut through the thorns quickly. Xigbar stepped through the portal, walking once again on an invisible platform in mid air, both guns glowing bright purple. The bullets freed the staff from the vines again as it continued its downward fall. Xigbar vanished a gun and put his hand through a warped air space. The staff's fall halted as a floating black gloved hand caught it, disappearing through the warped air beside it. Xigbar pulled his arm back from the hole and the staff appeared with his hand. The vines reared back from the vanished staff and paused for a moment before launching back at Xigbar. He quickly stepped backwards, vanishing into another warp hole.

The vines continued their launch through the already vanished warp hole. They turned in their course, doubling back and striking itself right beside Axel. In reflex he shut his eyes as he felt the pieces of thorns fly out and cut into his face again. He opened his eyes, as he felt the vines coil around his feet, torso, arms, cutting through the fabric of his coat, scratching his skin.

He let the fire build up inside him. Once he felt it burn underneath all of his body he released it creating a fiery aura to protect himself from the vines. He heard the vines snap and crinkle from the flames. He felt the wind rush past him as he fell from their grasp. He dispelled the protective fire and watched the vines withering, smoke pluming towards the sky. He glanced at the giant building. No, it was an old rusted thorn covered castle with-

His arm jerked upwards suddenly as a black glove gripped his arm tightly. He cried out in from the painful stop and looked up at Xigbar leaning out of a warp hole. He glanced down at how close to the water he had fallen. "Thanks." He felt a plane rise to meet his feet. Xigbar didn't let go, tugging towards the warp hole.

"We're going back," Xigbar explained, "It's not safe here."

"Whoa, what about the permission to return to the castle?"

"Tch," Xigbar gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'll get you somewhere safe then I'll-" A large roar of splashing drowned out his words and they looked around for the source of the sound. Fluid movement caught Axel's eye as he looked at the castle to their left. A wall of water spiralled upwards from the ocean around the castle. It gathered into one large sphere level with them. The sphere bent out towards them before breaking out, jetting out at the pair. The narrow stream missed Axel but hit Xigbar in the head. The platform beneath Axel vanished as he fell, with Xigbar tumbling out of the warp hole. The staff fell from his grip, plunging into the water with them.

He felt the water pound his body and surfaced quickly, looking around for Xigbar with his soaked bangs covering his eyes. He gathered a large breath of air and dove under the water. He forced his eyes open and saw Xigbar sinking into the water. Beyond Xigbar, he could see the castle continued far below the surface of the water. He kicked furiously, unzipping the now weighty coat and swam out of it. He grabbed Xigbar and struggled his way back up. Surfacing, he kept Xigbar's unconscious head above the water, searching for the staff. It floated not far off and he swam over to it. With his teeth he yanked off the gloves, tossing them to the waves. With his bare hand he gripped the staff, feeling the wood tingling on his hands.

Xigbar coughed, spiting water out of his mouth. He squirmed out of Axel's grip, drawing both his guns at Axel. Axel defensively held the staff between him and Xigbar. Xigbar blinked, registering it was Axel and not some vines that was holding him. He lowered his guns, dissolving one as he grabbed Axel's arm and pulled him through a warp hole. His stomach turned as he felt the water waver and vanish. The water and Xigbar blurred for a moment before his sight on Xigbar sharpen again, but the surroundings changed. They were right beside the castle on a rocky shore.

"Stay here," Xigbar said as he grabbed the staff from Axel. He opened a Corridor and vanished before Axel could follow.

Axel's mouth hung open at the vanished Corridor. "You said you couldn't-!" Axel yelled pointlessly at the thin air.

Axel kicked the ground. Water dripped down from his drooping hair, making small splatters on the ground. He began to wring out the water from his hair but then he paused. He let his hands heat up, much like how a hair straightener would work and slowly ran his hands over his hair. It dried quickly. He heated up his body the same way to dry himself off as he combed his hair back with his fingers.

_He thought that maybe taking a cold shower would reduce the dizzying sickening heat of the fever. It only lasted while he was in the shower. Half an hour after he got out from the shower, his hair and skin was just as dry and shakily hot as it had been before he had the icy shower._

Once dry he allowed the fires inside to burn a little to keep him warm. It was more for comfort in this place. He wanted to get out of here now. It made him feel sick and his head hurt. Nothing here made sense to him. He looked up at the castle above him. From his angle, he couldn't get a good view of it, since he was right below it.

The castle from home was pretty high too. Axel sighed and walked around its base, trying to piece together what was going on here.

Xigbar just used a Corridor when he said it wasn't safe. Xigbar said he had done recon, so he knew the layout of the castle, but it wasn't mentioned from before the mission. It made sense he could Corridor up without a problem. Then the question was why it wasn't safe? They had been planning on walking to the location together, so Axel couldn't see it as him being inexperienced as a problem. Then maybe, had the castle changed since he had last been here? So he would know where to go if he was in it, but afraid it had changed too much that he couldn't go higher?

_Xigbar stepped carefully on a thorny vine, slowly putting his weight on it. It crackled softly and crunched into pieces and he stepped down on it. _

But Xigbar hadn't been in the castle recently. He hadn't seen the thorns before. Axel wondered what the castle must have been like without those thorns. Perhaps he should ask Xigbar. Could it compare to the clean and decorated castle of Radiant Garden?

_...a small tower of flame rise from his palm. It shifted to create castle with all of it's towers just as detailed as he could remember..._

He remembered Xigbar's comment on the castle. Then his knowledge of this castle in front of him. Axel felt his chest tightened. Had they really come to his world and spread the Darkness? Did they also explore the castle to such extent when they did?

Axel shook his head. There was too many castles. It was crazy to even propose that this castle was even remotely like the one back home. He tried clearing his mind as he looked at where he had walked. He hadn't gotten far from where Xigbar told him to stay put. The tanned sharp rocks that surrounded the castle paled to a cold white almost in the shape of a door in front of him. He abandoned his confusing thoughts for curiosity. He reached out to touch the white rocks. They were much smoother than the tanned rocks appeared to be. The rock his hand rested on pulled into the other rocks sharply and Axel stepped back quickly. The rest of the white rocks moved away from the center of the door like shape. They mysteriously buried into the surrounding tanned rocks, revealing an opening.

Beyond where the white rocks were, a dark grey hallway led downwards into the darkness. Axel cautiously stepped towards it, leaning inside. The walls where the same grey white that the current castle he was at had. Even the very texture looked the same...

"Axel." Axel turned around sharply at Xigbar's cold voice, mind jumping from the lack of nickname he had quickly grown used to. An unamused gold eye watched him, finger pointing at a Corridor beside him. "Let's go." He was still wet.

Axel looked between the hallway he had found and Xigbar. He didn't look like he was in the mood for debate. Not only that, but Xigbar had his gun out still. Instead of it's usual light purple colour, it was white. Were they still not safe here?

"Xigbar, there's this passage that-"

"Not now." Axel flinched at the sudden cut off. "We've done what we were assigned to do. We're getting out of here. Now."

Not wishing to make this mission any worse than it already was, Axel walked towards the Corridor. He was right; they weren't here for exploring. "Alright, alright. Let's head back then. But I think someone should come back another time and take a look at that doorway." His feet stepped into the darkness.

He heard Xigbar walking slowly behind him. He kept walking as the Darkness swallowed the landscape around him. Once in the Darkness of the Corridor he felt an itch on his back. As he reached back to scratch it as the whole area around him lit up. He closed his eyes from the brightness, but it still persistently blinded him. He felt himself hit the ground, a dull throb in his head. Slowly the white light darkened as if he was falling asleep.

"Ahh, but Flamsilocks," Xigbar's voice echoed strangely as if he was dreaming, "there are some things that are better off forgotten."

OoooooO

Right after Axel and Xigbar left Saix went straight to Axel's room to drop off the jar. He took off a glove and stuck a finger in the black gel. He could feel it was warm as he spread out the gel to a thin layer so that he could see the tiny black flecks of soot mixed in. He rubbed the gel between his fingers and then cupped his hand.

He thought of the sun. The lacking sun in this nighttime world. From the black gel small flaming spirals rose to hover above his palm, weaving together to make a sphere. The sphere was small, something Saix found himself easily handling this time. While he could use magic, like any Nobody, he had less control due to his 'berserker' attribute. He had next to no time in training in magic as well as combat. Axel had given him a start back when he first began training, but there was no time for that anymore. It had to be the soot that made it easier. It was like Vexen had said.

He didn't understand why Vexen had insisted to him that he had completed it on time. It was Xemnas that had told him the deadline, not himself. Then why...?

He extinguished the flames, leaving the smoke to slowly waft up. He put the lid back on the jar and decided that Axel would probably need some kind of brush to apply the gel, unless he wanted sooty hands all day. Brushing what he could of the soot off on his coat he put the glove back on and tried to recall what Axel had found in the castle. He had come across some storage rooms containing various items in the side towers of the castle. The tower closest to the large room which was turning into a lounge room.

Down on the floor, there was a main hallway which led in a circle which had a bunch of smaller rooms attached to it. Each room was sorted based on what it contained, but not in any particular order. All rooms matched the grey tones of the castle. One room had extra clean and neatly folded bed sheets and pillows. Another had old gears of all sizes. Some were damaged, badly cracked, and some were even in good shape. They weren't white, but a coppery colour instead, standing out from their surroundings.

Finally he found the room Axel mentioned containing writing materials. Saix felt a slight chill as he entered the small room with shelves lining the walls. There was a small darker grey step ladder so that someone of Saix's height could reach all the shelves. On the shelves there were light grey boxes sorted by what they contained. Saix didn't move the step ladder from where it already was, the spot where Axel might have used it, and took the least dusty box and opened it. After pulling out a sheet of paper stacked inside the box it was evident it wasn't the usual paper that Vexen and Zexion used to write on. Saix checked the box next to it and found the same thing. Axel didn't mention was the paper stored in that room was not meant for writing. If he had pulled it into the light he couldn't have missed the rough texture of the paper. Each box stored different thickness of paper and size too. Some of the top papers were stained. Mostly black, but sometimes a pale blue.

Frowning, Saix looked around the room at the boxes on the shelves. On the other side of the room there were smaller boxes which had been moved recently by the gloves prints on the dust. Moving the step ladder over, he began going through the recently opened boxes. There was an entire box full of the standard pens that he had were stored in the desk in his room. Another box had frail pens he had seen Xemnas use. Another box held the finer tipped pens. They seemed familiar and he wondered if maybe it was the kind Zexion or Vexen used, as those were the only other two he had seen write. He could remember Xemnas' because of how frail it was. He imagined it would crush easily, not making it ideal for one to write with. Then again, it was Xemnas using it.

Saix picked up a few pens of different styles that didn't match Xemnas' or the scientists' style and placed them on a small space between boxes on the shelf. Just as he was going to put the mixed box back, he saw another box behind it. Even though it was hiding in the shadows of the shelf above it, Saix could see it wasn't grey like the other boxes. Putting the mixed pen box down on the ground he reached for the other box.

A rare colour of olive green spotted with other shades of green, blue, and pale pink covered the box. The lid of the box had fewer patches of colour but there were patches of olive green that was worn out showing the wooden base beneath. He felt the need to take the lid off carefully and placed it on the open shelf space. It felt like the source of colour for the castle was contained in one box. Brushes with varying colour of handles in shades of reds, blacks, blues, and green filled the box. The tips had different lengths and widths and were stained with faded colours, most of them being grey, blue or green. Most brushes had the bristles bent. Handles were stained with colours as well and chipped revealing the wooden handle.

Saix stuck his stuck his hand into the box and dug around hoping there would be an unused brush. The further he looked down the less abused they looked. Finally at the bottom there were a couple used brushes, only slightly worn from being at the bottom. Saix picked a small one with thin hairs and placed it next to the pens on the shelf. As Saix put the box back he noticed that beneath the spotted coating there was some faded writing. Pulling it back out he tried to read the loose looping handwriting. He didn't recognize it as Xemnas', or the scientists, and it was a lot softer and delicate. He looked over the box for more writing, trying to find the phrase that was once written on it hidden from coloured spots and worn from time. Unable to find the completed phase, Saix stared at the one word that was legible. Perhaps it was the beginning of a longer word, but he couldn't read beyond the 'n'.

Saix put the box back, mentally adding it to the mysteries of the castle. The colourful box that is '_Even_'.

OooooooO

"…_wake up." A tug on his shoulder, "you don't want to be late for work, again."_

"_Isa…just a bit…" Lea mumbled folding his arm over his head to cover his ear. Already he could feel the sunlight peek into his eyes. _

_Isa's voice sighed. A rap on his head. "Time to wake up-"_

"-Axel." The dream- or perhaps it was a memory- was erased by the dull grey walls and the open window of darkness. The illusion of sunlight tingled against the skin of his face. A voice without any hurry spoke quietly again. "Time to come back," Axel rolled over and saw Saix sitting on the edge of the bed calmly. He sat up slowly and stopped when he felt the smooth material of the black glove against his shoulder. Axel blinked as he stared at Saix's gloved hand. He looked down his waist nestled by the thin white sheet of the bed, the black pants hiding beneath. He scanned around his room. It was just him and Saix in his room. The only other article of clothing he could see was his boots set neatly on the floor by the edge of the bed.

What had happened to his coat? And his gloves? Had Saix put them in the closet?

"Why…?" Axel trailed off, not sure what to ask. Why didn't he remember going to sleep? Why was Saix with him? He felt slightly chilled by the lack of fabric against his arms and rubbed them lightly.

"You messed up and your mission," Saix replied as he got up from the bed as soon as Axel had rubbed his arms. Axel's arms felt sore as he rubbed them. He couldn't remember why though. Suddenly he felt a bundle of cloth thrown against his head and turned to its direction at Saix. His mouth formed a hint of a smile as if to say 'Sorry, it was an _accident_' as he closed the closet door.

"Thanks," Axel said quietly with a smile as Saix walked back to the bed and sat back down. Saix also placed a new pair of gloves beside him as Axel slipped on the clean coat, but didn't bother zipping it up, just wrapping it around himself. "What the hell happened to me? My arms are sore, everything feels sore...and what happened to my coat?"

"You don't remember?" Saix asked. Axel shook his head. "Xigbar said you may not remember, as you had taken a hit to the head from a giant Heartless. It was attracted to the staff that you two delivered." Saix concluded his short report.

Axel rubbed his head, not recalling being attacked by a large Heartless. He remembered there was Heartless, but smaller ones. "The mission with Xigbar...Was it anywhere near water? I remember seeing that. And..." He trailed off. He was drawing a blank.

"No, there was no mention of it." Saix paused, flicking through his memories. "However...Xigbar wasn't dry. He wasn't soaking wet either. A little damp one might say..."

Axel frowned. "Wasn't the mission reported to you? You were in charge of it after all."

Saix sighed, "Only briefly. The entire mission wasn't reported to me. Xigbar came back and literally dumped you on me and told me to leave and 'clean up my subordinate's mistakes'. The rest was reported to Xemnas. As I left, I did catch him saying he didn't want anyone going there again. Do you know why he would say that?"

Axel shook his head. "No. Other than the Heartless threat that knock me out I guess..." Then he remembered he had something more important to tell Saix. While it bugged him not to remember, he should deal with what he could remember. Recalling Vexen's comment on Xigbar, Axel leaned forward and whispered in Saix's ear, "Is it just us here?"

Saix pulled back, reading Axel's eyes. He nodded. "What is it?" He asked quietly.

"Two things." Axel said quietly. "One, we're the outsiders to this group. They all know each other. In fact, I'm certain that they all came from the same world. Or at the very least, they joined at the same time. Zexion and Vexen don't trust outsiders. Us."

"You were eavesdropping?" Axel nodded. For a moment he felt like Saix should scold him for doing something like that. "What else?"

"That strange thing is that...Xemnas trusts you." Mild surprise crossed his face. "I know. Well, he doesn't believe you'll be a threat. If that counts as trust. And...he's looking to expand the Organization."

"We can use that. Especially since the members already here don't trust us..." Saix muttered. "Why don't they trust us?"

"Well, 'they', being Zexion and Vexen. I can't speak for Lexaeus and Xaldin." Other than that one day, neither one of them had shown any grudge against them. The more he hung around Xaldin, he saw it was more in a competitive spirit than a grudge. "The two scientists don't have a reason, other than not knowing us. And Vexen isn't very high on Xemnas' list...he was eavesdropping on his and Zexion's conversation. With Zexion's knowledge."

Saix thought it over, coming to the same conclusion Axel had. "He would probably be the easiest to use. He won't work for us...but we can make him follow our plans without him knowing. There will be an opportunity, I'm sure of it."

Axel nodded, ending their conversation. They sat in silence for a moment before Saix got up.

"Rest," Saix said quietly. "there's something I wish to show you, but another day." Axel looked at him and felt a slight nagging of curiosity. When Saix didn't continue, his curiosity died as well. Saix began to leave.

"Wait." Saix paused before the Corridor. "A Key. Xemnas is looking for a Key. Do you know what it is...?"

"A Keyblade," Saix answered immediately. "A tool that can release hearts from Heartless. The released hearts will form Kingdom Hearts. Which in theory..."

"...Would bring back our hearts." Axel picked up. "Be careful, Saix. I don't think Xemnas gave you a Second's position because he think you're capable. It's a trap." Even though Xemnas had said otherwise, maybe he had something else planned. If he didn't, then the scientists might. "If there's something odd going on, you need to tell me. Playing along wouldn't be worth it. Getting through this together is important."

Saix nodded. "Goodnight," he said as he left the room.

Axel laid down on his bed, not moving or thinking for a few minutes. Eventually his eyes travelled to the jar on his desk. He got up and noticed a small brush and a white cloth with black smudges on it beside the jar. He picked up brush and ran his finger over it. It was smooth, never used. It was fine tip, used for painting with delicate mediums.

_They were at another small art gallery. Most of the artwork displayed had the artists who made them there as well. Some were collections that richer families displayed for others to see or envy. Lea followed his mom as she went from one piece to another. She said he was too much of a teenager to appreciate such fine art. To Lea, if it looked like a flower, then it was a flower. The praises his mom would talk about brush strokes or techniques about the type of paint used didn't mean much to him. She was fond of landscape paintings from the islands nearby Radiant Garden and some of the rare plants that grew there. _

_At one point his mom was given a chance to look at some of paint brushes used to make a painting of a flower. "Look Lea," she smiled excitedly, showing him the brush, "See how fine this brush is? Well, some of the bristles aren't as straight as they were, but the hairs are much finer than say, this one." She held out another brush for him to feel. It felt much coarser than the fine brush she was talking about._

Axel picked up the jar and brush and brought it over to the mirror. He unscrewed the lid and dipped the brush into the gel.

_A small girl appeared beside them in a white dress. "Are you an artist too?" Her blue eyes watched curiously. "You know a lot."_

_His mom laughed lightly and bent down meet eye level with the girl. "No, I'm afraid I can't afford the munny or time for painting. I took lessons when I went to school many years ago. Is this your mother's display?"_

_The girl nodded and Lea looked at the paintings. Most of them were of flowers. They varied from one flower or bouquets of flowers. The occasional landscape was there as well, depicting the wild plants that grew from some of the islands. This artist was lucky enough to travel to the islands. Lea had been lucky enough to see them for himself when Isa's family had taken him one summer._

Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw scratch marks covering his face. He frowned. More things he didn't remember. The black markings Xigbar had given him were gone. He glanced back at the white cloth on his desk. Saix must have wiped it off. He wondered what he should paint on his face. Or maybe his wrists. He looked at them and realized he wouldn't be able to paint both wrists easily.

"_They aren't hers though. A friend gave them to her."_

"_Wow. She is quite lucky." She was amazed, and Lea could also hear a bit of envy in her voice. To begin painting cost a lot of munny and time. Even if a painting is completed, it didn't mean it would sell. The price a painting needed to be sold at would need to cover the costs of the materials used and time. An artist would that would have to have lots of munny to give away such a consuming task was unbelievable. _

He held the brush tip below his eyes. Maybe where Xigbar placed the marks was a good idea. He placed a small black dot below both of his eyes.

"_Yeah, but he doesn't paint anymore." Lea was surprised that it wasn't her father who gave them to the girl's mother, but a friend. "He was really nice though. I wish he would visit again." He looked back at the girl with saddened eyes. His mom placed a reassuring hand on her hand, lightly brushing her dark red hair._

He added a small triangle to both circles. His intention was to draw two halves of a heart. He realized they looked more like upside down tears than hearts. He put the jar down and screwed the lid back on. He grabbed the white cloth, wrapping it around the brush and placed the brush beside the jar. They rested on the small ledge the mirror offered.

Back at the desk he opened the small notebook Saix had given him. He opened it a few pages in and drew the two upside down tears. Then he drew them overlapping each other and lightly shaded over it. It formed a heart.

That's what they were after. Getting his and Saix's heart back. They had to find a way for Saix to rise up, to be on par with Xemnas, and finding out exactly how to get their hearts back. If Xemnas was going to get in their way then they also had to find a way of taking him down without having the remaining members kill them. They would have to make allies with any new members. Well, Axel at least. He doubt Saix could afford to risk the small trust, no matter how strange it was from Xemnas, by being friendly all the sudden with the new members. Unless, Xemnas called for it.

Axel could finally see how things might shape up. He had hope. A faint dull hope, but more hope than he had for a while.

OoooooO

A/N: First trip back to Radiant Gar-well, Hollow Bastion.

Vexen's name is Even but...if you saw that, wouldn't you think it's a word, not a name too? Could be 'Even though...' 'Event' 'Eventually...' or 'Evening box of colour'. You get the point.

Next chapter will be posted...I don't know when. I'm hoping before school starts, but I really don't know.


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